1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,840 Speaker 1: Jobless number came out yesterday. Surprised to the upside as 2 00:00:02,840 --> 00:00:04,760 Speaker 1: the number turned out to be five point one, which 3 00:00:04,840 --> 00:00:06,560 Speaker 1: is better than the big brains were thinking they had 4 00:00:06,559 --> 00:00:09,000 Speaker 1: five point two five point three. Full time work was 5 00:00:09,080 --> 00:00:11,840 Speaker 1: down forty five thousand, offset to some degree by the 6 00:00:11,840 --> 00:00:14,600 Speaker 1: growth and part time work. Finance Minister Nicola willis with us. 7 00:00:14,640 --> 00:00:17,840 Speaker 1: Good morning, Good morning mate. What are your spidy sensors saying? 8 00:00:17,880 --> 00:00:18,280 Speaker 1: Is this it? 9 00:00:19,520 --> 00:00:23,599 Speaker 2: Well? Treasury have been forecasting that they expect unemployment to 10 00:00:23,680 --> 00:00:27,240 Speaker 2: peak later this year and to start coming down. And 11 00:00:27,480 --> 00:00:29,720 Speaker 2: that's what I still think is going to happen, because 12 00:00:29,760 --> 00:00:32,479 Speaker 2: we do have an economic recovery underway. We had GDP 13 00:00:32,680 --> 00:00:35,640 Speaker 2: growing in the last quarter of last year and generally 14 00:00:35,720 --> 00:00:39,159 Speaker 2: what that means is soon enough unemployment starts following. 15 00:00:39,320 --> 00:00:41,199 Speaker 1: Yeah, I'd like to think that was true. I've got 16 00:00:41,200 --> 00:00:43,600 Speaker 1: bad news for you. I'm doing the live GDP this morning. 17 00:00:43,600 --> 00:00:45,440 Speaker 1: They've got us down on the quarterly change and the 18 00:00:45,440 --> 00:00:49,880 Speaker 1: annual change down a minus zero point one for the quarter. 19 00:00:50,040 --> 00:00:52,000 Speaker 1: So maybe this growth thing isn't happening the way we 20 00:00:52,040 --> 00:00:52,559 Speaker 1: thought it was. 21 00:00:53,800 --> 00:00:57,400 Speaker 2: Well, what we know is that consumer confidence and business 22 00:00:57,400 --> 00:01:00,240 Speaker 2: confidence has been recovering, but at the same time all 23 00:01:00,320 --> 00:01:03,600 Speaker 2: of these international events have definitely had an impact on 24 00:01:03,680 --> 00:01:06,440 Speaker 2: people's views about how the economy is going to go, 25 00:01:06,520 --> 00:01:09,840 Speaker 2: and therefore how much they're investing, and therefore their readiness 26 00:01:09,880 --> 00:01:11,839 Speaker 2: to take on new workers and all of those sorts 27 00:01:11,880 --> 00:01:15,039 Speaker 2: of things. So I think with the uncertainty that we're having, 28 00:01:15,640 --> 00:01:17,840 Speaker 2: we could see that these numbers going up and down 29 00:01:17,840 --> 00:01:20,720 Speaker 2: a little bit. But as I say, Treasury and others 30 00:01:20,760 --> 00:01:24,480 Speaker 2: continue to forecast that the economic recovery is underway, just 31 00:01:24,560 --> 00:01:26,400 Speaker 2: not quite as fast as we were all hoping. 32 00:01:26,520 --> 00:01:28,480 Speaker 1: Do you worry about the under utilization rate and do 33 00:01:28,520 --> 00:01:30,440 Speaker 1: you worry about the young people who can't get work? 34 00:01:31,120 --> 00:01:33,160 Speaker 2: Of course I always do. I want to see young 35 00:01:33,200 --> 00:01:36,560 Speaker 2: people getting into work. What the data indicates is that 36 00:01:36,600 --> 00:01:39,399 Speaker 2: there are more young people going into study rather than 37 00:01:39,480 --> 00:01:42,360 Speaker 2: work at the moment. But there are two sides to 38 00:01:42,480 --> 00:01:44,720 Speaker 2: the data yesterday. On the one hand, it's always good 39 00:01:44,760 --> 00:01:48,240 Speaker 2: to see unemployment lower than the boffins are forecasting. On 40 00:01:48,320 --> 00:01:50,960 Speaker 2: the other hand, it's clear that some people are going 41 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:53,200 Speaker 2: into part time work rather than full time work and 42 00:01:53,200 --> 00:01:55,720 Speaker 2: aren't getting as many hours of work as they would 43 00:01:55,800 --> 00:01:57,520 Speaker 2: like to be. So I want to see all of 44 00:01:57,560 --> 00:01:58,520 Speaker 2: those numbers improving. 45 00:01:58,680 --> 00:02:01,840 Speaker 1: Barbara Edmonds yesterday busy blaming you for not spending enough money, 46 00:02:01,920 --> 00:02:04,800 Speaker 1: and as easily as we can dismiss this, it is 47 00:02:04,840 --> 00:02:08,280 Speaker 1: a political argument. How much of this recovery relies on 48 00:02:08,320 --> 00:02:11,799 Speaker 1: the Edmunds recipe of you spending money versus the rest 49 00:02:11,800 --> 00:02:14,640 Speaker 1: of us getting out and actually doing something about it. 50 00:02:14,639 --> 00:02:19,000 Speaker 2: It's about everyone feeling confident in the business community and 51 00:02:19,040 --> 00:02:21,920 Speaker 2: in the private sector that they can invest, do things, 52 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:26,160 Speaker 2: take on new markets. That's how recoveries happen. New Zealand 53 00:02:26,800 --> 00:02:30,440 Speaker 2: at the moment is spending more than it is earning 54 00:02:30,639 --> 00:02:33,640 Speaker 2: by a huge proportion. In fact, compared to other countries 55 00:02:33,680 --> 00:02:36,120 Speaker 2: in the world, our government is doing more of that 56 00:02:36,680 --> 00:02:39,320 Speaker 2: than many many others. So to say that the way 57 00:02:39,639 --> 00:02:42,280 Speaker 2: to get our economic recovery is just to drive this 58 00:02:42,400 --> 00:02:46,080 Speaker 2: country into even deeper debt, I think is financially and 59 00:02:46,200 --> 00:02:49,440 Speaker 2: economically ignorant. That is not the way. Recoveries come from 60 00:02:49,480 --> 00:02:52,480 Speaker 2: businesses feeling confident, feeling that the future is a good 61 00:02:52,520 --> 00:02:55,960 Speaker 2: place they can invest, they can hard people conditions. We're 62 00:02:55,960 --> 00:02:56,480 Speaker 2: trying to see it. 63 00:02:56,600 --> 00:02:58,560 Speaker 1: It's not in your area specifically, but you're the most 64 00:02:58,600 --> 00:03:03,040 Speaker 1: senior minister we've got today and Upston were in Rogaru yesterday, 65 00:03:03,160 --> 00:03:05,520 Speaker 1: this tourism thing. You removed one of those barriers, those 66 00:03:05,560 --> 00:03:08,720 Speaker 1: language barriers for visas into this country. I told you 67 00:03:08,760 --> 00:03:10,880 Speaker 1: many people told you about this months ago being a 68 00:03:10,960 --> 00:03:13,560 Speaker 1: hurdle and an impediment to getting tourism growth. It was 69 00:03:13,560 --> 00:03:15,880 Speaker 1: only yesterday. Why are you guys so slow at this stuff. 70 00:03:16,639 --> 00:03:18,639 Speaker 2: Well, look, our initial advice was that there were a 71 00:03:18,720 --> 00:03:21,040 Speaker 2: number of risks worth doing that, and then we've sat 72 00:03:21,080 --> 00:03:24,160 Speaker 2: down and we've looked carefully through it, and we've determined 73 00:03:24,200 --> 00:03:26,200 Speaker 2: that this is a change that we can make and 74 00:03:26,280 --> 00:03:29,040 Speaker 2: we should make because it will support more tourists coming 75 00:03:29,040 --> 00:03:29,480 Speaker 2: to the country. 76 00:03:29,639 --> 00:03:30,880 Speaker 1: Yeah, but we told you that months ago. 77 00:03:32,120 --> 00:03:34,080 Speaker 2: Yes, you did, but we had to weigh all of 78 00:03:34,080 --> 00:03:36,000 Speaker 2: the evidence, and we had to weigh the advice that 79 00:03:36,040 --> 00:03:38,800 Speaker 2: we were getting from our officials saying that they did 80 00:03:38,800 --> 00:03:40,680 Speaker 2: think that there were risks to this. We've weighed that 81 00:03:40,720 --> 00:03:42,160 Speaker 2: we've made an appropriate decision. 82 00:03:42,240 --> 00:03:45,440 Speaker 1: Appreciate you time. Nicola Willis the Finance Ministers. For more 83 00:03:45,480 --> 00:03:48,560 Speaker 1: from The Mike Asking Breakfast, listen live to news talks 84 00:03:48,600 --> 00:03:51,800 Speaker 1: that'd be from six am weekdays, or follow the podcast 85 00:03:51,840 --> 00:03:52,720 Speaker 1: on iHeartRadio.