The Household Labour Force Survey is out, showing a slight drop in unemployment. But the total number of unemployed is still 150,000 - 45,000 more than when National took office.
National's solution to this? Kick beneficiaries harder! Because apparently jobs magically appear in the economy if only you're vicious enough to those without them (this of course ignores the fact that only a fraction of the unemployed receive a benefit). But Treasury's projections show there will be no jobs until 2015 at the earliest, and likely later if the global economic crisis continues to rumble on. In other words, National's policy is simply sadistic theatre, which will do nothing to actually help solve the problem.
Meanwhile, its interesting to compare the two HLFS releases linked above, and note what information has disappeared under National. We no longer receive ethnic breakdowns, or information on the duration of unemployment. These would show Bad News, and so have been quietly expunged. Just another example of how National is burying the evidence of its failure.
