Dig deeper into these benefit numbers (as Louise Upston did) and you will find something cheering about job seeking
The tables [below] come from a report just published, titled…
Benefit Fact Sheets
Snapshot
September 2024 Quarter
The Benefit Fact Sheets, which “provide a highlevel view of trends in benefit receipt”, are published quarterly to provide information on income support provided by the Ministry of Social Development.
Click to view
Click to view
Click to view
Point of Order has yet to examine all of the data, but – at first blush – we saw cause for disquiet.
Yesterday we could welcome the fall in the consumer price index. But today…?
Well, today we can be cheered by Louise Upston, Minister of Social Development and Employment.
She diverted our attention from the tables we were examining and assured us:
The Government’s relentless focus on welfare that works and holding job seekers accountable through sanctions saw a year-on-year increase in the number of people moving from benefits into work in the September quarter.
She wanted us to note that 16,071 people cancelled their Jobseeker Support benefits because they found work between July and September, an increase of 2457 people, or 18 per cent, on a year ago.
This coincided with a 133.3 per cent increase in the number of benefit sanctions being issued.
This meant the government’s policy of requiring beneficiaries to prepare for or find work was having an impact.
Upston’s assurance can be found on the government’s official website –
Latest from the Beehive
17 October 2024
The Government has today released targeted actions to improve road safety that are focused on increasing road policing and enforcement, targeting the highest contributing factors to fatal crashes, and delivering new and safe roading infrastructure.
The Government’s relentless focus on welfare that works and holding job seekers accountable through sanctions saw a year-on-year increase in the number of people moving from benefits into work in the September quarter.
16 October 2024
The coalition Government is progressing mahi in the Retirement Villages Act 2003 review and focusing it on the areas of highest importance, Associate Minister of Housing Tama Potaka and Seniors Minister Casey Costello announced today.
Trade Minister Todd McClay will attend the Group of Twenty (G20) Trade and Investment Ministerial Meeting in Brasilia next week.
Louise Upston said:
“Despite the economic gloom the Government inherited, 16,071 people cancelled their Jobseeker Support benefits because they found work between July and September, an increase of 2457 people, or 18 per cent, on a year ago.
“This coincided with a 133.3 per cent increase in the number of benefit sanctions being issued. It’s clear that returning consequences for job seekers who don’t fulfil their obligations to prepare for or find work is having an impact.
“All up, 18,516 people cancelled a main benefit because they found work in the September quarter, an increase of 12.7 per cent, and I congratulate all of them.”
Upston acknowledged there was more to be done, “as the lingering effects of the cost-of-living crisis continue to increase overall benefit numbers”.
But she was pleased the greater focus on front-line case management, community job coaching, and more regular work seminars – all delivered by the government’s Welfare that Works reforms – were helping job seekers.
And she said it was encouraging to see the amount of hardship assistance handed out by MSD reduce by 10.4 per cent, saving taxpayers $55.2 million. Fewer grants for food and emergency housing were the main reason.
“The Government has worked hard to get inflation under control, return discipline to public spending, and get families out of emergency housing. Coupled with tax relief, falling interest rates and our FamilyBoost childcare payments, large numbers of New Zealanders are better off than they were a year ago.
“More work is needed to fix the damage that years of low growth has had on our employment market, but there are green shoots of change in these latest figures.”
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