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We're at the half way mark of the government's 12 week wage subsidy which so far has paid out over $10.5 billion to nearly 1.75 million New Zealanders .
In the first four weeks of lockdown 33,000 more people went on the unemployment benefit - meaning 5.8 percent of the working-age population is now receiving jobseeker support, up 1 percent on a month ago.
Already there are predictions that the end of the wage subsidy scheme will see a new wave of redundancies at the end of next month.
The Finance Minister Grant Robertson will deliver his third budget next week - what measures can he produce to address the scale of the economic crisis and try to turn the ship around?
Kathryn talks with independent economist Cameron Bagrie, chief economist of the think tank, the New Zealand Initiative Eric Crampton and Andy Hamilton, former CEO of the business incubator The Icehouse, now director of its investment arm, and co-founder of the small business support platform Manaaki.
