The Household Labour Force Survey is out, and as expected, the news is bad, with unemployment surging to a 9-year high. There are now 30,000 more unemployed than when national came to power in November last year. But digging into the numbers, its actually worse than that - an equal number have given up looking for work and left the labour force entirely.
While National is not responsible for the global economic crisis, they are responsible for how they handle it. And on this measure, they are handling it badly. Their "stimulus" has not kept people in work, their nine-day fortnight has not protected jobs, and their cycleway scheme is a bad joke. They seem quite happy to leave the market to "sort itself out", while enriching themselves at the taxpayer's expense. The fact that this will cause real pain to a lot of people seems completely lost on them.
New Zealanders expect more from our government. In a crisis like this, we expect them to be doing something to help, not standing by idly comparing the size of their Parliamentary perks. If they don't start meeting those expectations, they are going to suffer for it at the next election.
