Benefit data released today confirms that Labour is still failing to get people off welfare and into work despite businesses up and down the country crying out for workers, National's Social Development and Employment spokesperson Louise Upston says.

“Almost five years to the day after this incompetent Government came to power, there are almost 50,000 more people stuck on the Jobseeker benefit than in 2017.

“With worker shortages in almost every sector of the economy, Jobseeker numbers should be at record lows. Instead, there are still over 170,000 New Zealanders dependent on this benefit.

“When there are ‘help wanted’ signs plastered in the windows of businesses in every corner of the country, Labour is wasting a golden opportunity to break the cycle of benefit dependency for thousands of Kiwi families.

“Not only are there significantly more Kiwis on the Jobseeker benefit after five years of Labour, but they are staying there for longer, with those on for a year or more up 35,000.

“Labour's approach to welfare is doing serious harm. Instead of a safety net that supports people into their next job, Labour have created a dragnet that pulls vulnerable New Zealanders further away from independence and opportunity.

“National knows that a job is the only viable path out of poverty in the long term.

“Our Welfare that Works plan would break the cycle of dependency by powering up community organisations to deliver individualised support to young Jobseekers while setting clear obligations about the need to prepare themselves for work.

“Unlike Labour, we are not content to squander the potential of a generation of New Zealanders stuck on a benefit.”