8 Aug 2022

National's beneficiary policy faces criticism

From Checkpoint, 5:06 pm on 8 August 2022

National and Labour are trading blows over young beneficiaries after Christopher Luxon revealed the number of under-25-year-olds on a jobseekers allowance has jumped 50 percent in the past five years, despite businesses screaming out for workers.

National's new welfare policy proposes job coaches for young people who've been collecting a benefit for more than a year, individual job plans, and benefit sanctions for those who fail to follow through.

The Prime Minister says the government is already getting people off benefits and its doing most of those things already.

Here's our political reporter, Katie Scotcher.