Unemployment casts dark shadow over Lantern Festival

The annual Lantern Festival should be a time when the Asian community rejoices, yet this year’s celebration looks set to be anything but with the spotlight on the rising numbers of unemployed, says Labour List MP Raymond Huo.

“Usually The Chinese New Year and Lantern Festival offer a chance for the Chinese community to reflect on the past year and rejoice in new beginnings and opportunities.

“This year, however, the harsh reality of New Zealand’s ballooning unemployment rate, will be weighing heavily on many.

“The statistics make grim reading - for the fourth year in a row the number of Asians without jobs (7.9 per cent) is above the national average.

“Overall the statistics are even worse with 29,456 more Kiwis receiving the unemployment benefit than in December 2008 – an increase of 96.5 per cent in just three years.

“Asian Kiwis are offered two pictures. The first is of more jobs and a brighter future which has been sold to them by the National government. The other is of a government with no real plan to grow the economy apart from selling our treasured national assets.

“We need a government that focuses on the people and a government with a plan for job creation and economic growth,” Raymond Huo said.