13 Sep 2012

NZ economy lost jobs

10:14 am on 13 September 2012

New figures reveal the New Zealand economy lost jobs in the past two years even though the Government says 50,000 new jobs were created.

According to Statistics New Zealand, nearly 452,000 jobs were created between 2008 -2011. However, nearly 465,000 were lost.

But Finance Minister Bill English says there has been a net gain of 50,000 new jobs in the past two years.

Mr English's office says the figure is based on the Household Labour Force Survey, which measures unemployment.

But Statistics NZ says that's not an appropriate measure of job creation and destruction.

Instead the agency uses employer-employee linked data set to determine how many new jobs have been created and how many existing jobs have been lost.

Mr English told Morning Report the Household Labour Force Survey has always been the measure of employment statistics.

CTU view

The Council of Trade Unions says the Government needs to do more to tackle unemployment.

CTU president Helen Kelly told Morning Report that regardless of the numbers, the Government is not doing enough.

Ms Kelly said for a start it should stop getting rid of public sector employees and invest in rail.

[audiohttp://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2531928/ctu-says-govt-not-delivering-on-jobs.asx Listen to more from Helen Kelly on Morning Report