Craig Renney

See - www.stats.govt.nz/methods/meas...

Sacha - from Stats NZ - MH-18 has 16 items in common with DEP-17. 1 item has been removed (visits to local places) & 2 new items added (a good bed to sleep in, and access to a computer and the internet)- given they haven’t asked the old question again you can’t make that comparison sadly

I will go and have a look…

We need to do better than this. For years we made bipartisan progress on tackling something that really matters. Children's futures are blighted by child poverty - something beyond their control. There can be fewer things more fundamental to the purpose of government than this.

This is what happens if you cut the minimum wage in real terms year after year. This is what happens if you spend more time kicking people out of housing rather than building it. This is what happens when you care more about cruise ship passengers than kids in poverty

In Wellington, the number of children living in material poverty has increased by 4,100 since 2023 - up 34% in just two years. While we should handle regional data with care, it shows just how little this government cares about the capital city and its people.

Material poverty is particularly bad for tamariki Maori (25.1%) and Pacific children (31%). Material poverty is nearly double the rate for disabled children (26.9%) as against 14.3% for the general population. None of these indicators is improving fast enough.

Since 2023, the central estimate of children in poverty has increased on all 3 measures. 23,700 more children in material poverty than in 2023, up 16% in the past 2 years. 1 in 7 kids missing out on the absolute basics. Regardless of who is in office, this isn't good enough.

#nzpol Child poverty data from Stats NZ out today. All political parties except Act agreed to the Child Poverty Reduction Act 2018, creating legally mandated targets for child poverty reduction. Right now, we are missing even the looser targets the government has set. A 🧵

If you think that life is getting harder, not easier, you aren't alone. Record numbers of people want work and can't get it. Highest unemployment in 10 years. More cuts signalled at the Budget in front of us. Do you feel back on track yet?

For households on the lowest incomes, annual inflation is 3.4%. For pensioners, its 3.8%. For the richest its 1.2%. The minimum wage goes up by less than inflation for 3 consecutive years in 26. That laser-like focus on the cost of living seems to be pointing at the wrong people

If you feel like your Electricity bill is out of control – it is. Prices are up 11.5% this year alone. Prices are up 21% from 2023, with the majority of the increase happening since June 2024. Don’t worry though – the government is planning on adding to your bill with a new tax!

Basic goods are really struggling.
- Potatoes up 16.2% annually
- Tomatoes up 31.9%
- Kiwifruit up 40.6%
- Oranges up 19.9%
- Beef Mince up 18.8%
- Sausages up 10.5%
- Cheese up 16.5%
- Butter up 17.7%
- Chocolate up 20.5%

If you need a coffee after that - that's up 8.2%

#nzpol Prices for basics are rising again at a rate much faster than wages, new data from Stats NZ shows. 70% of workers got a pay rise less than 3% last year and 44% got no pay rise at all. Food prices rose 4.6% overall, with the price of white bread rising 58% this year. A 🧵

Charm Skinner, who works for the Salvation Army, reminded us that “in all this data, these are the real lived experiences of whānau”. We have choices ahead at the next election, about how to tackle these problems. Recent decisions have taken us here. Let’s make better choices.

Drug consumption has rocketed over the past two years. Meth use has nearly doubled during that time. Support for people affected by drug abuse needs more support given this weight of consumption.

The number of households receiving transitional housing support fell last year. At the same time “A survey of local councils from Apr 2025 showed that all of the 18 respondents found that homelessness was either ‘slightly worse’ or ‘significantly worse’ than 12 months earlier.

The number of children living in poverty is growing and troublingly, the number of children living in material poverty has now reached 156,600. The number of children referred for possible child abuse or neglect requiring further action increased 13% this year to 44,532

On nearly every measure our measures of the labour market have fallen. The numbers of people needing help just getting the basics has increased. It’s getting harder - especially if you are poor - just to get by

#nzpol I’m here at the release of the Salvation Army State of the Nation for 2026. It’s a portrait of the problems facing Aotearoa, and how we are doing in tackling them. Many of the problems we face have worsened over the past two years. A 🧵

#nzpol Do you feel back on track yet?

If there is a recovery going on in the economy, it's not happening for working people. The cost of living is rising again. Work is harder to find. A tax cut doesn't help you if you don't have work. We need a real plan from the government, not another slogan.

There has been a fall in filled jobs in 11 of 16 sectors over the past two years. This includes manufacturing, construction, IT & telecoms, professional, scientific, technical & admin. Forestry & mining. Wholesale Trade. The fall in employment has been broad-based.

In the Wellington Region, the number of people who are unemployed has nearly doubled in just 2 years From 11,100 in Dec 2023 to 20,000 now. Wellington needs jobs urgently - yet there is nothing from the government to help turn this crisis around.

The highest number of people are in part-time work since 2017, and record numbers of people want more work but can't get it – a record going back to 2004. This hides the true unemployment rate. If you work 1 hour you aren’t unemployed. If you want more work – that doesn’t count.

Wages are continuing to fall behind inflation. 70% of workers got a pay rise less than inflation last year. 44% of workers got no pay rise at all - meaning a 3% real terms pay cut this year. Both public and private sectors saw real terms falls in the Labour Cost Index

The number of unemployed men and women rose in the last quarter, and 7,600 more 15-24-year-olds are unemployed than a year ago. With Waitangi just around the corner - Maori unemployment was 11.2% in December 2025 – more than twice the national average.

#nzpol New unemployment data from Stats NZ today, showing the impact of an economy that isn't working. An additional 5,000 people became unemployed during the quarter, rising to levels last seen in 2015. 164,000 people are now unemployed, up 39,000 in just 2 years. A🧵

This data shows once again the uneven choices getting "back on track". Tax cuts tilted to those with higher incomes and higher assets. Wages stalling, and higher price rises for the poorest. Everything we do in economics is a choice. Let’s choose better than this.

Treasury boss on bolstering the books in absence of high house prices and immigration Iain Rennie on where growth is coming from, and what he believes needs to change.

Pensioners face an even higher rate of inflation at 3.8% annual change. Maybe not the right time for Treasury to be examining whether to means-test the Winter Energy Payment, is it? www.nzherald.co.nz/business/eco...