Nicola Willis fails basic test on unemployment – Labour

Nicola Willis has exposed just how out of touch she is with the jobs crisis unfolding under her watch.

“This morning Nicola Willis showed she doesn’t even know where unemployment is rising in New Zealand, despite overseeing thousands of job cuts,” Labour Wellington issues spokesperson Dr Ayesha Verrall said.

On Breakfast, Nicola Willis claimed: “We know that Wellington overall continues to have lower unemployment than the country as a whole.”

“That is completely wrong. Wellington’s unemployment rate is 6.3 percent. National unemployment is 5.3 percent.

“Wellington has unemployment well above the national average, and the finance minister is so out of touch she doesn’t know what’s happening in her own city.

“If Nicola Willis doesn’t know what the unemployment rate is, or where unemployment is climbing, then it raises a very serious question: does she even care about keeping people in work?

“Nicola Willis has cut jobs, crushed confidence, slowed the economy, and now unemployment is climbing fast. Instead of taking responsibility, she can’t even get the most basic facts straight.

“You cannot run the economy when you are this disconnected from what is happening on the ground.

“New Zealanders deserve a finance minister focused on creating jobs, not one who is too out of touch to realise she’s making them disappear,” Dr Ayesha Verrall said.