UPDATED 12.32pm: A pledge today from new Labour leader Andrew Little to return New Zealand to the lowest unemployment in the western world.

To get there Mr Little told his Auckland business audience wealth, through business, has to be created first so that it can be shared.

Afterwards he said his first state of the nation speech was about direction, policy will come later.

"This was about setting priorities and values because I think people should get a pretty clear message that we are serious about jobs, we are serious about jobs and we're serious about engaging with the business community in terms of sound economic growth and development."

Little, the former head of the EPMU, says under his leadership the party will focus on small business which provided more than 40 percent of jobs last year.

He's also talked about working alongside Air New Zealand and Fonterra as a unionist to keep jobs in New Zealand.

Mr Little told his business audience in Auckland successful businesses are the key.

"As a union leader, I was always conscious that wealth had to be created before it could be shared.

"We need to do what's right for business, so we can do what's right for workers and their families and to keep skills in New Zealand."

Afterward he said the Superannuation Fund is an obvious source of revenue.

"We've got a fund that's sizeable, it's there to benefit New Zealand.

"It's in the position to take some risks - not silly risks, calculated risks - but to play just a small role in helping to sustain and support small businesses."

The Labour leader moved to dispel the notion that he's a trade union bogey, pointing to his work as a union leader with big business to protect jobs at Air New Zealand and at Fonterra.

He says when people have jobs they have dignity and self respect.

The Labour leader says the party will make working with small businesses a priority because they're the key to New Zealand’s future prosperity.

Such companies generated 41 percent of the new jobs created in the past year.

Mr Little says he wants to make sure business owners spend their time focussed on their business, not filling in tax forms.