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Unemployment Benefit numbers for Wairarapa have dropped 12 per cent in the past year, mirroring a national plunge in UB numbers and confirming the region is well and truly on a roll.
Labour MP Georgina Beyer says in June 2005, 556 people were registered unemployed the length of the Wairarapa*. Today, there are 492.
"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 2,107 local folk receiving Unemployment Benefit," said Georgina Beyer.
"Local Unemployment Benefit numbers have plummeted by 77 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 Wairarapa 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.
Georgina Beyer 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 1,471 to 1,445.
"Having a Labour-led government means all New Zealanders 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: all local figures relate to people registered with the Dannevirke and Masterton Work and Income service centres.
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