Marlborough's jobless rises 350 per cent

BY CLAIRE CONNELL

The number of people on the unemployment benefit in Marlborough has increased 350 per cent.

According to Work and Income New Zealand statistics, 204 people were on the unemployment benefit at the end of December 2009, compared to 46 people at the same time a year earlier.

Work and Income regional commissioner Janine Dowding said 2009 was a "tough year" due to the recession, but unemployment numbers were still low overall, thanks to wine-industry jobs.

More than 1000 people were on the unemployment benefit in Marlborough more than 10 years ago before the wine industry boomed, she said.

"So looking at the picture more broadly, the numbers we are facing now are not alarming," she said.

In the Nelson, Marlborough and West Coast region, 1187 were on the unemployment benefit at the end of February compared with 494 at the same time last year.

People aged between 18 and 24 made up the largest group on the unemployment benefit in the region, 34 per cent; those aged 25 to 29 accounted for 33.1 per cent.

The February figures were not available for Marlborough.

A Ministry of Social Development spokeswoman said the ministry had introduced its Jobs Ops programme, which began in Marlborough in August last year, to tackle the problem of youth unemployment.

The scheme offers a six-month wage subsidy through Work and Income to help employers create new positions for 18 to 24-year-olds.

Ninety-one young people have been employed in Marlborough through the scheme.

Nationwide, the unemployment rate was 7.3 per cent at the end of February.

The number of unemployment-benefit recipients fell by 4224 that month, the single biggest drop since 2007.

Overall, the number of people on all benefit types dropped by 10,816, more than half of whom were young people.

Social Development Minister Paula Bennett said 5595 young people came off a benefit in the last month, aided by Job Ops and Community Max. While part of the fall was due to a resurgent economy, Work and Income had strengthened its "work-first" approach, using work brokers to match people with jobs, Ms Bennett said.

In the last week of February, 38 per cent of those who visited Work and Income did not leave with a benefit. Regionally, the biggest drop in unemployment-benefit numbers was in the East Coast (20 per cent), Auckland (16) and Bay of Plenty (11).

But Labour leader Phil Goff said Ms Bennett was being dishonest with her interpretation of the unemployment figures.

"If you want to know why the figures have come down in the last couple of weeks, it's because some tens of thousands of people have gone back to polytechnic and university. That's a seasonal fall."

- with Fairfax reporters

- The Marlborough Express