Gap between benefits and low waged workers had got too large, English says

Thu, 21 May 2015

By Pattrick Smellie May 22 (BusinessDesk) - The government decided to boost benefits for beneficiaries with children because the gap between benefit levels and the lowest income wage earners had become "a bit too wide," Finance Minister Bill English said at a post-Budget breakfast meeting in Wellington. "The gap between wages and benefits is as wide as it's ever been," English told a large business audience. "We felt it had got a bit too wide" because the pace of wage increases had picked up, compared to inflation-adjusted benefit payment...

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