Brownlee busted with facts that don't stack up

Gerry Brownlee’s claim that everything’s rosy in Christchurch because Trade Me job vacancies are up is an embarrassing own goal given that official government figures show there was in fact a 1.4% decline in online job ads in Canterbury last month, says Labour’s Economic Development spokesperson David Cunliffe.

“Gerry’s so busy dishing out personal abuse that he’s completely missed the point and made a fool of himself.

“Not only are online job ads down, but the Household Labour Force Survey shows unemployment in Canterbury went up from 5.5 to 6.5% in the June quarter. That’s 21,500 people out of work – an increase of 2700.

“Gerry Brownlee also claims that the Government’s ‘spent’ $43 million extra on trades training but the Skills for Canterbury contingency fund set up in Budget 2011 has only spent $7 million as of August.

“The Minister should focus on dealing with the serious issues raised in David Shearer’s speech today, including the fact that the Canterbury rebuild is an opportunity to provide Kiwis with decent jobs and to equip our young people with world-class skills.

“Instead of lashing out with nasty attacks, Gerry Brownlee should back Cantabrians and all Kiwis who want decent jobs make sure they get the opportunities they deserve,” said David Cunliffe.

Read more on my blog: http://blog.labour.org.nz/2012/10/18/minister-for-abuse-needs-to-read-david-shearers-speech/