1. Economy—Household Labour Force Survey Youth Unemployment and WagesGRANT ROBERTSON (Labour—Wellington Central) to the Minister of FinanceORAL QUESTIONSQUESTIONS TO MINISTERSEconomy—Household Labour Force Survey Youth Unemployment and Wages1. GRANT ROBERTSON (Labour—Wellington Central) to the Minister of Finance: Does he stand by his statements yesterday on the Household Labour Force Survey; if so by how much has the number of 15 to 24-year-olds who are not in employment education or training increased since his Government took office?Hon STEVEN JOYCE (Minister of Finance): Yes I certainly do stand by my statements on yesterday's household labour force survey which showed amongst other things that unemployment in the March quarter stood at 4.9 percent. I stand by my comment that an extra 29000 people are now employed compared with the previous quarter and in total we now have well over 2.5 million people employed in this country for the first time. In regard to the number of 15 to 24-year-olds who are not in employment education or training it stood at 86000 in the March 2017 quarter out of a total of 674000 people in that age group. That compares with 78000 when the Government took office in the first quarter of 2009 out of a much smaller group of 604000 in that cohort.Grant Robertson: Is it not in fact correct that there are nearly 27000 more young New Zealanders not earning or learning since his Government came into office?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: No. I have just compared for the member the first quarter of 2009 versus the first quarter in 2017. The difference is an increase of 8000 but the population of that age group has gone up around 70000 at the same time.Grant Robertson: In light of that answer is it not further correct that since last year—at exactly the same time—the number of young New Zealanders not earning or learning has increased by 4000 or 5 percent?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: The member can make those assertions but what he is trying to skip is that the population in that 15 to 24 age group is increasing over the same time. So it stands to reason that even though the proportion is dropping slightly since we have come into office there are slightly more people in total because the population of that group has gone from 603000 to 674000 over that time. But I do bring good news for the member because I have had a look at the numbers for him. If you look at the 86000 people listed as young people not in education employment or training in the March quarter 16000 of them are not in the labour force because they are involved in caregiving presumably for young children; 38000 are not in education at all and not in the workforce—those are the people who are having a gap year and so on; leaving 32000 people who are looking for work and are not in education. That is lower than the adult population unemployment rate—it is 4.7 percent.Mr SPEAKER: Order! I just need somewhat less interjection please.Grant Robertson: Are there 4000 more people aged between 15 and 24 not in employment not in education and not in training since March last year and how can he be so proud of that?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: The member is forgetting to look at the number of people overall. Grant Robertson: In a year?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: Yes. Since March of last year the New Zealand population of 15 to 24-year-olds has gone up by 11000 people. So yes there are 4000 more listed as not in education employment or training but the total population of that age group has gone up by 11000 people.Grant Robertson: In light of his statement yesterday with regard to the household labour force survey that inflation is running at 2.2 percent can he confirm that 67 percent of New Zealanders received a pay rise of less than 2 percent last year?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: No I cannot. I would have to see the reasons for the member making that assertion. What I can tell him is that average weekly wages went up either 2.1 or 2.2 percent over the same year which was roughly the same rate as inflation.Grant Robertson: Does he think that New Zealanders are getting a fair share in prosperity when more than two-thirds of workers got a pay rise less than inflation when the cost of food and petrol increased by more than average inflation and when housing costs increased on average by 11 percent—or is he not on the side of those New Zealanders?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: I am certainly on the side of New Zealanders—all New Zealanders—and am also on the side of literally financial New Zealanders and I am sorry the member in his assertions is wrong because actually housing costs are included in the cost of living adjustments in the Consumers Price Index.Grant Robertson: No they're not.Hon STEVEN JOYCE: They are. So I do have those concerns and I would say at the moment that wages are going up at about the same rate as inflation according to the statistics yesterday. But the solution in terms of increasing wages further is to continue to strongly grow the economy—as we are seeing—and to continue to see strong job growth. That also leads to strong income growth as we have seen in the last several years.