Recent Jobseeker figures illustrates the economic and job crisis New Zealand is facing and Labour has no plan on how to lower them, National’s Social Development spokesperson Louise Upston says.

“200,000 New Zealanders are now on Jobseeker or Covid-19 relief payments, including the 55,000 who have joined the ranks of the unemployed since mid-March. The number of people on unemployment benefits were already high heading into the lockdown but these figures are unprecedented.

“This Government has no plan for getting people back into work, when Labour first took office there was an increase of 30,000 people on unemployment benefits, this has now gone up by 55,000 after the Covid-19 crisis.

“National have already pledged to support people to get off the dole, into work and back into the driver seats of their lives. Our JobStart policy is just one of the ways we will achieve this.

“JobStart will give businesses the confidence to hire more staff, which will have great flow on impacts for New Zealanders futures and will enable families to earn an income.

“A National Government will create more jobs and opportunity for New Zealanders. We have a track record of getting people back into work, and this is what we will do again.“