Economy not meeting the needs of working people – where is the Governments strategy? New Zealand Council of Trade Unions

Figures out today from Statistics New Zealand showing our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) are proof that the economy is not working as it needs to nor is it performing as Treasury had predicted.

“Just three weeks ago Treasury forecast in the Budget that GDP would increase by 1.1 percent in the three months to March, not the 0.5 percent that GDP that actually happened. Even worse, GDP is falling after accounting for our growing population. This is simply not good enough. Working people need fairer incomes. Where is the strategy from Government to ensure better wage increases?” CTU President Richard Wagstaff asked.

GDP per capita fell in both the last two quarters. The CTU estimates that productivity (GDP per hour worked) fell 1.3 percent in the last year compared to the year before.

“These figures show that the economy isn’t working as it should. None of this is good for working people and their future wages and incomes.”

“The Government should stop trying to plug the income gaps by tax reductions which rob us of quality public services like health, housing and education that working people need. It is time to fix our wages system so working people get a fair share of the income that their work produces.”

“If the Government doesn’t show some real leadership on this issue, working people will have gone through a whole economic cycle without seeing the rise in their standards of living which they deserve,” Wagstaff said.