More evidence for Mike Treen

Daily Blog poster Mike Treen is persisting with his theory that people are being denied an unemployment benefit despite my data showing the number of refusals was fairly constant between 2005 and 2013. He has repeated his original claim in a new post entitled "Right wing lies continue".

...around the mid 2000s the Labour government introduced a severe case management regime that seemed designed to prevent people accessing their entitlements rather than encouraging them to. The numbers on the unemployment benefit began to fall dramatically faster than the HLFS unemployment number until the gap hit 50,000 in 2008. The international crisis and recession of 2008-10 sent the HLFS unemployment numbers soaring but the new National government’s even more punitive regime managed to keep the numbers on a benefit from increasing anywhere near as fast....I believe that statement to be true and remains true."

I believe that statement to be true and remains true. - See more at: http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2014/04/11/right-wing-lies-continue/#sthash.0Wv5lPAt.dpuf

I believe that statement to be true and remains true. - See more at: http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2014/04/11/right-wing-lies-continue/#sthash.0Wv5lPAt.dpuf

Mike is still of the view that before the mid 2000s everybody who was unemployed received a benefit. People were not denied.

Below is data from a Department of Social Welfare Benefits and Pensions report for the financial year 1989/90. It's a photocopy from my own files and I don't have data for other years.

It shows that 175,736 unemployment benefits were granted and 16,972 were declined. That's an application  refusal rate of 8.8%

In the 2011/12 year 110,244 unemployment benefits were granted and  13,417 were declined. That's an application refusal rate of 10.8%.

These are facts. These are not lies.