Bay of Plenty beneficiaries increase by 40 per cent over five years as recruiters struggle

The number of beneficiaries in the Bay of Plenty has increased by about 40 per cent over the past five years, Ministry of Social Development data has revealed.

It comes as a recruitment agency says filling vacancies at the moment is a struggle "everywhere".

At the end of June, 33,297 people in the Bay of Plenty were receiving one of the Ministry of Social Development's main benefits, compared to 23,658 people at the end of June 2017.

Main benefits for those of working age include: Jobseeker Support, Sole Parent Support, Supported Living Payment, Youth Payment and Young Parent Payment, Emergency Benefit, Emergency Maintenance Allowance, Jobseeker Support Student Hardship, Widow's Benefit Overseas, and Sole Parent Support Overseas.

However, Social Development and Employment Minister Carmel Sepuloni said Jobseeker numbers were falling each quarter, and its Mana in Mahi programme had supported 5000 job-seekers nationally into work.

Agoge Recruitment chief executive and founder Andrew Nicol. Photo / Jason Oxenham

Agoge Recruitment chief executive and founder Andrew Nicol said the struggle to fill vacancies was "everywhere".

"Our applicant numbers are down. Going into summer, when the supply chain and industrial sectors pick up, it's going to be hard.

"Just because there are more people on [the ministry's] books doesn't mean there's a lot of people looking for work."

Nicol said low unemployment was good for the economy but these circumstances made recruiters' jobs harder.

"We're losing workforce but still getting economic growth, and that's driving the gap."

Nicol said low immigration over the last two years also affected shortages.

"If you're an employer, keeping your staff is the thing you've got to do, and that means giving good leadership and good working conditions.

"If [employees] can go down the road and get more money, that's what they're going to do."

Zorb owner Kelly Hemana said the regional increase in beneficiaries since 2017 prompted some questions.

"I'd like to know if that's an increase because there are more beneficiaries moving into the region or working people moving out."

Rotorua MP Todd McClay. Photo / Andrew Warner

Rotorua MP Todd McClay said the increase in beneficiaries was "extremely concerning".

"At a time when almost every local business I talk to is desperate for more workers, it just doesn't make sense for the benefits rate to be so high."

He said the current shortage of workers was "leaving businesses desperate and making it harder for them to recover from the effects of successive lockdowns and restrictions".

"Where people are able to work they should be in work, and the government has a responsibility to spend taxpayers money carefully.

"They need to help people back into the workforce, not leave them to languish on a benefit."

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Minister Sepuloni said 11 per cent of working-age New Zealanders currently received a main benefit.

"In the same period after the Global Financial Crisis, it was 12.5 per cent.

"While numbers of people on Jobseeker are falling each quarter, we know we are not out of the woods yet and are working hard to get people back into the workforce, and we are having success."

Sepuloni said the GFC taught them that things will "take time to return to normal, but we are on the right track".

Social Development and Employment Minister Carmel Sepuloni. Photo / Mark Mitchell

"We invested heavily in work-focused case management and programmes such as Mana in Mahi and we are now seeing record numbers of people move off benefits and into work."

That programme had supported 5000 job-seekers into jobs, exceeding the target of 4000 set following its extension in 2019.

At the start of the pandemic, Treasury predicted 487,000 people would be on a main benefit, Sepuloni said, and because of the wage subsidy, the numbers never went above 400,000.

Ministry of Social Development shows at the end of June there were 344,622 beneficiaries across the country receiving Job Seeker Support, Sole Parent Support, Supported Living Payment or the Youth/Young Parent Payment. This was compared to 276,331 people on all the main benefits at the end of June 2017.

In the wider Bay of Plenty region, there were 9303 people on the job-seeker benefit at the end of June. This was 30 people less than the month before.

Statistics New Zealand reported the unemployment rate edged up to 3.3 per cent in the three months ended June from 3.2 per cent, against expectations of a fall to a record low of 3.1 per cent.

It said 47,485 people migrated to New Zealand in the year ending May 2022, there were also 58,158 migrant departures, bringing a loss of 10,674.

Data recorded monthly by MSD