Thursday, November 03, 2011



52,000 out of work under National

The Household Labour Force Survey is out, and it shows an increase in unemployment, from 6.5 to 6.6 percent. All up there are now 157,000 people out of work - 52,000 more than when National took office, and almost twice the level which prevailed under Labour. There are also 80,000 more people classified as "not in the labour force", who have basically given up.

That's National's economic record right there. Faced with the worst recession in recent memory, they did nothing and left the market to sort itself out. The result was entirely predictable. And their "solution"? More of the same inaction. They're not going to spend any effort trying to create jobs or get the economy back on its feet, they're just going to kick the poor to make themselves feel better. 52,000 more unemployed says that that just isn't a credible policy.