Daily Blog/Matt McCarten conspiracy theory busted

In February the Daily Blog screamed the headline, 

EXCLUSIVE: Billions of dollars stolen from the unemployed

EXCLUSIVE: Billions of dollars stolen from the unemployed - See more at: http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2014/01/30/billions-of-dollars-stolen-from-the-unemployed/#sthash.HGg7ojrP.dpuf

which claimed a hundred thousand plus people were being denied an unemployment benefit.

The number of those on average receiving a benefit compared to the number of unemployed in the household survey is now about 130,000 fewer than it was in the late 1990s.

The missing 130,000 are the reason why so many social agencies are being inundated for help for food, clothing, shelter despite the so-called recovery in the economy over the last year...
tax cuts for the rich have been paid for by denying entitlements to the poorest and most vulnerable is theft from working people of about a billion dollars a year. It is time to get angry.

The tax cuts for the rich have been paid for by denying entitlements to the poorest and most vulnerable is theft from working people of about a billion dollars a year. It is time to get angry. - See more at: http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2014/01/30/billions-of-dollars-stolen-from-the-unemployed/#sthash.vvibofX6.dpuf

Then Labour's Chief of Staff, Matt McCarten, still writing for the Herald on Sunday, picked up the accusation:

The 130,000 uncounted unemployed are officially invisible.
As such, they don't get a penny. The billion dollars they should be getting to survive keeps the government books nicely inflated.
It's not only cynically dishonest, but heartlessly cruel. Only totalitarian regimes get away with this.

So I asked the following question under the Official Information Act,  

In the years 2005 to 2013 how many unsuccessful applications for Unemployment Benefit were received/processed?

Here is the answer.

In December there were just over two and hundred fifty thousand people who were officially jobless. 130,000 people were receiving Jobseeker Support. Most of the balance have not applied. Indeed they may already be on other benefits. Those who did apply unsuccessfully, according to MSD,  "did not meet the criteria for an Unemployment Benefit" or presented with a "lack of evidence for eligibility."

The number of those on average receiving a benefit compared to the number of unemployed in the household survey is now about 130,000 fewer than it was in the late 1990s.
The missing 130,000 are the reason why so many social agencies are being inundated for help for food, clothing, shelter despite the so-called recovery in the economy over the last year.
- See more at: http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2014/01/30/billions-of-dollars-stolen-from-the-unemployed/#sthash.fdeskW7e.dpuf