Wednesday, October 07, 2015



National's New Zealand

Another sign that National's economic management isn't delivering to ordinary New Zealanders: more and more people with jobs are being forced to turn to WINZ for help:

Rising numbers of employed Kiwis needing Government assistance to make ends meet highlight a "stalling economy" where housing costs are growing faster than incomes, says Labour.

Figures released to the Party by Social Development Minister Anne Tolley show a 58 per cent increase in the number of people applying for temporary income assistance since 2009, who were not already on a main benefit.

A rise of 9.9 per cent had been seen in the past year.


This shouldn't be happening. Jobs should pay enough for people to live on. But with a stagnant economy, persistent high unemployment and a labour market stacked in favour of employers (and a housing market stacked in favour of speculators and MPs), people are being forced to go grovelling to WINZ to get by. And that simply isn't right. Isn't it time we had a government which worked for us, rather than the 1%?