However St Luke's vicar the Rev Alex Czerwonka, who has worked with many beneficiaries in the city, said there had been no obvious changes from the drop in beneficiary numbers.
"I haven't seen any real change," he said.
"For a drop of 55, from around 7100 beneficiaries, it is insignificant."
Mr Czerwonka said it was unrealistic to imagine the local economy being able to employ even half the number of beneficiaries who were unemployed.
"What employer is willing to take on 3500 people?"
Mr Czerwonka said many took on voluntary work to satisfy Winz expectations when they can't get paid employment.
"But from what I am seeing there is no real breakthrough and there has been no obvious change."
He had noticed people without work moving to Rotorua.
"I'm not sure why as there seems to be no one wanting to absorb the massive number of unemployed in the city."
However, Mr McClay said recently launched initiatives such as the Rotorua Maori and Pacifica Trades Training scheme and the Rotorua Trades Academy were giving young locals a chance to learn crucial skills.
"A number of development projects are in store for Rotorua in the coming years so there's a lot of opportunity for people to get into skilled sectors like trades and forestry. It's great that we have the capacity in Rotorua to train local people to do local jobs."
The Trade Me employment survey for April to June showed job listings in Rotorua rose 2 per cent to 483 compared with the same period last year.
The employment rate in the Bay of Plenty also reached 61.7 per cent for the March quarter, up from 57 per cent a year earlier.
Nationally, the number of people on benefits dropped by more than 16,000 in the year to June, with figures for the quarter at their lowest level since 2008.