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News 

 

West Auckland on a roll as UB numbers plummet

Lynne Pillay

20.07.2006

Unemployment Benefit numbers for West Auckland have dropped thirty per cent in the past year, mirroring a national plunge in UB numbers and confirming the region is well and truly on a roll.

Waitakere MP Lynne Pillay says in June 2005, 1,680 people were registered unemployed around West Auckland*. Today, there are 1,175. Across the Auckland region as a whole, numbers have dropped 21 per cent from 14,101 in June 2005 to 11,168 today.

“With the country doing so well on these statistics, it's sometimes easy to forget that when the Labour-led Government took office in 1999, there were 6,209 local folk receiving Unemployment Benefits," said Lynne Pillay.

"Local Unemployment Benefit numbers have plummeted by 81 per cent in just seven years – that's a phenomenal achievement and a huge endorsement of the Government's work-focused approach.

"It's also a feather in the cap of local businesses, community groups, and of course job seekers themselves."

The West Auckland figures come on the heels of national data released by Social Development Minister David Benson-Pope earlier this month, showing New Zealand's Unemployment Benefit numbers have fallen to below 40,000 for the first time in over two decades.

Lynne Pillay said Domestic Purposes Benefit numbers had also fallen across the country by 4,000 in the last year alone.

"In that time, the number of local people receiving the DPB has dropped from 6,202 to 6,150.

“Having a Labour-led government means all New Zealanders are getting a fair go, with families young and old getting the support they need to take charge of their lives and take up opportunities."

* Eds: local figures relate to people registered with the Glenmall and Kelston, New Lynn, Waitakere, and West Gate Work and Income service centres.

 

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