By RNZ

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has criticised National's proposed welfare changes, saying they prove the opposition party doesn't understand the incentives currently in place to help people into work.

Over the weekend, National unveiled its proposal for job coaches for beneficiaries aged under 25, an individual job plan, and benefit sanctions for those who failed to follow the plan.

Anyone who had been receiving welfare for more than a year, who then stayed off it for a year after receiving a job, would be eligible for a $1000 payment.

But Ardern told RNZ there was already support to help young beneficiaries into work, and sanctions that could be used by front-line workers if necessary.

"We haven't made changes to what [sanctions are] available there for use," she said.

National leader Christopher Luxon speaks at the annual party conference in Christchurch. Photo / George Heard

Ardern said over 5000 people had been placed into work through the government's Mana in Mahi programme, which was more than just a job placement.

"You also receive training and there's support for employers."

It was "a little galling" for the government to be attacked over its efforts to help young people into work, she said, given the Ministry of Social Development did not have enough staff when Labour took office.

"Our MSD case managers - who of course want to do this work to help place people into jobs - had had a decrease in the amount of time available for them to do that because they didn't have enough staff," she said.

"We increased the number of case managers, we particularly focused on that during Covid, something I see now the National Party is also attacking us for having spent too much money on."

Ardern said not all workplaces had been equally affected by the pandemic and the "economic crisis" that had ensued as a result of it.

"We know, that when we hit tough economic times, it is young people who often are the ones who will bear the brunt, when you look at those areas that were hard-hit through Covid, they are often areas where you have young people in unemployment."

However she said 33,000 people had come off benefits and into work in a year, including "record numbers of those same young people".

Ardern said the government had focused on things that were known to be barriers to entering the job market for young people, such as supporting them once they were in the workplace and helping them to obtain driver licences.

"Let's look at what's needed rather than just ... jumping to the old tropes that we see from the opposition," she said.

"If a young person can't get a job, get them the skills they need, get them the driver's licence they need; connectivity is sometimes an issue - just the ability to get to work - so we've been supporting and making sure those products are available."