Letter to the editor – Key discovers how to reduce unemployment in NZ
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from: Frank Macskasy <fmacskasy@gmail.com>
to: Sunday Star Times <letters@star-times.co.nz>
date: Sun, Jul 3, 2016
subject: Letters to the editor.
The editor
Sunday Star Times.
On 29 June 2016, Statistics NZ announced that it would be changing the definition of what constituted an unemployment person being called a jobseeker;
“Looking at job advertisements on the internet is correctly classified as not actively seeking work. “
So an unemployed person, using the internet to look for work, is no longer considered a jobseeker?
Stats NZ then promptly “reviewed” the current employment rate of 5.7%, revising it down to 5.2%.
Four days later, on TV3’s “The Nation”, our esteemed Prime Minister patted himself on the back for “falling unemployment” saying;
“The unemployment rate in New Zealand is now falling pretty dramatically. “
Well, of course it’s “fallen”! Statistics NZ has ‘cooked’ the numbers! By arbitrarily deciding that any unemployed person using the internet to look for work is no longer considered officially a “jobseeker” – unemployment has “miraculously” dropped!
Now we now how Key’s government plans to reduce unemployment, and it’s not by job-creation.
Lies, damned lies, and statics indeed!
George Orwell would be mightily impressed!
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-Frank Macskasy
[address and phone number supplied]
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References
Statistics NZ: Household Labour Force Survey β Revisions to labour market estimates
Scoop media: On The Nation – Patrick Gower interviews John Key
Previous related blogpost
Lies, Damned lies and Statistical Lies
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= fs =
This is how they roll! π