Nicola Willis: Economic Growth Minister on the unemployment rate rising to 5.4%

The Economic Growth Minister says things are picking up in some regions sooner than others. 

Unemployment's hit a ten-year high nationally, reaching 5.7% in Bay of Plenty, 5.8% in Wellington, 5.9% in Waikato, and 6.4% in Auckland. 

But it's fallen to 3.7% in Canterbury and just 2.3% in Otago. 

Nicola Willis told Mike Hosking employment is rising in many sectors, but it's not even around the country. 

She says Canterbury in particular has seen a big rise job numbers. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, it's hard to hide from a headline in election year,

(00:02):
isn't it. Five point four is not five point three
or five point two. The unemployment rate is up. There
is some good news, of course, jobs are being created.
There's been a boost in terms of women returning to
the workforce, and Nicola Willis, Finance Minister, is with us.
Very good morning to.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
You, Good morning mate.

Speaker 1 (00:16):
But the politics of it all sadly for you. The
optics win, don't they. Five point four is not what
you wanted or needed.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Well, no question, we want to see that number coming down.
We want to see unemployment decreasing. What is positive is
the underlying signs that that is going to happen, and
that's because employment growth is up considerably. It's up fifteen
thousand jobs which have been created in that three month period.
And what's happening is as people are seeming more confident

(00:45):
about the economy, business confidence up, consumer confidence up, more
people are entering the workforce, so they're saying, actually, I'm
going to go out and try and get a job.
And that growth in the number of people trying to
find a job has slightly outpaced the number of new
jobs created and that's where we get to on that unemployment.

Speaker 1 (01:03):
That is correct, and no one would argue with you,
but they would have to be of a mindset to
listen to that inelection year and absorb it, whereas there
are plenty of people who go it's gone up full stop.

Speaker 2 (01:15):
Well, the reason I care about those underlying indicators of
hiring going up, job ads going up, the number of
jobs being created increasing is because those are all the
things that we need to see in order to be
confident that overall unemployment number will be coming down this
year consistent with the uptick and economic activity that we
are seeing. So we're going in the right direction on

(01:38):
job creation and on unemployment, and yes, I'm looking forward
to that number coming down.

Speaker 1 (01:44):
What do you say to Gareth Kernon who says Informetrics,
who goes this has got a touch of the day,
jabou about it? A lot of talk, lot of hype,
lot of noise, a few bits and pieces around the edges,
but it's an apparition.

Speaker 2 (01:54):
Well, what I'd say is we have been waiting for
an economic recovery and there is some payas, but all
of the signs are there, and those fifteen thousand more
jobs that have been created. That's Kiwi's in work where
businesses have felt the confidence to say, actually, we're going
to up our hiring, We're going to create some more roles.
And that's exactly what we want to see. And we

(02:17):
are seeing businesses saying as they look forward, they are saying, Yep,
we're going to create some more jobs. We're going to
increase the head count in our firm because there's demand
out there in the economy. So those are just downabashedly
good things and it's pretty broad based. We're seeing employment
increasing and manufacturing, construction, professional services.

Speaker 1 (02:36):
Well I was going to argue with you on that.
I mean, yes, you're right on that part of it.
But Auckland, Wellings and Wycata up towards six of not
past six percent of the cities don't fire, the country
doesn't fire.

Speaker 2 (02:46):
There's considerable regional variation. Canterbury's had a big reduction in
its unemployment rate, huge job creation going on there, whereas
you are seeing it more mixed in other areas. The
number of people working in administration, public administration roles and
councils and government that's not increasing as fast as the

(03:07):
private sector economy. And actually, I want to see that
private sector economy growing. That's why we're doing those fast
track projects so that we do have big projects happening
which have people behind spades, have people and diggers, have
people working away on new activity in the economy. So
that is gaining momentum and we need that momentum to
continue through the year.

Speaker 1 (03:28):
Nice to talk to you, have a good weekend, Nichola
willis One. It's minister who I'm as suspected, probably still
the whiting For

Speaker 2 (03:33):
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