Household Labour Survey highlights inequality

Rising unemployment will hurt Kiwi families who are already struggling, and widen the gap between the haves and the have-nots, the Green Party said today.

“Unemployment has risen to 6.8 percent in the last quarter, and the rate is even higher for Maori and young people. Combined with food price rises and the GST increase, it's getting harder and harder for many New Zealanders to cover the basics,” Green Party Co-leader Metiria Turei said.

Mrs Turei was referring to figures in the Household Labour Force Survey for the December 2010 quarter, released by Statistics New Zealand today.

“Today’s unemployment figures show that those hit hardest by the recession are still experiencing it.

“The response of John Key's Government has been to raise GST, deliver tax cuts to those on the highest incomes, and make it harder to access welfare support at the toughest time.

“The result is to widen the gap between the haves and the have-nots in New Zealand, a gap that is already one of the widest in the OECD.

“Without a coherent plan from the Government to create real jobs that pay a living wage and reduce this gap, our most vulnerable families will fall through the cracks.

“The Greens have real solutions on the table that would do this.

“We would build 6,000 new state houses in the next three years. This would create 28,000 new jobs, help to get 10,000 people off the state house waiting list, and give our kids warm, safe, healthy homes.

“Every child should be guaranteed the basics: a warm, dry, safe home to live in, healthy food, and a family income that can sustain them.

“We can help to guarantee these things by investing in solutions like those outlined in the Green Party's 'Mind the Gap' package to reduce inequality: building new state houses, extending working for families income support to the poorest children, and making the first $10,000 of everyone's income tax-free.

“Sadly John Key's Government is eroding the essentials instead of investing in policies to guarantee them,” Mrs Turei said.