Unemployment on the rise

Author: Frances Cook ,
Publish Date: Wed, 4 Nov 2015, 2:36pm

UPDATED 4.35PM: Unemployment is up and the Government admits it could continue to rise.

11-thousand fewer people have a job, after unemployment data rose from 5.9 to six percent in the last financial quarter.

Employment Minister Steven Joyce said it's disappointing, but it could still go up again.

He says it's what you would "probably expect" from two quarters of "softer growth".

Finance Minister Bill English attributed it to the changes the economy going through.

"We still get a significant proportion of employers saying that one of their challenges is getting enough people with the right skills for the jobs they have, so we've got to ride through this adjustment."

International students working on visas are also seen as part of the problem, but English says he's not about to interfere with the 27,000 who're able to work 20 hours a week.

"International education is now about a three billion dollar industry, so it's generating a lot of jobs."

Joyce says it could continue to rise, but the Government is working to stop that.

"The big one of course, is attracting more investment and that's always the job. We're doing that with the help of the infrastructure build and the things we're doing around skills."

Green Party co-leader James Shaw, says the figures actually show there are fewer jobs available. He says it's particularly bad for those in the lower socioeconomic group.

"Unemployment for Maori and Pacific Islanders is now double the overall [rate]. It's pretty catastrophic. The government doesn't seem to have much of a plan to deal with it."