Unemployment is going to get worse before it gets better, Finance Minister Bill English said today after latest statistics showed it had risen to 6 percent.
The Household Labour Force Survey put the number of unemployed at a 10-year high of 138,000.
"There's more job losses to come over the next 12 months," Mr English told reporters.
"That's why we have to strengthen the economy and provide sustainable jobs - too many of those jobs that have been lost were based on too much borrowing and government spending."
Social Development Minister Paula Bennett said the increase was larger than had been expected, up from 5 percent on the March figure.
"That's obviously of concern to the Government," she said.
"New Zealand continues to feel the effects of the global downturn, but we're holding up internationally with an unemployment rate well under the OECD average of 8.3 percent."
Labour said families were hurting and the Government had failed to protect them from the sharp edges of the recession, as it said it would.
"This is deeply worrying," said social development spokeswoman Annette King.
"It makes mockery of (Prime Minister) John Key's claims earlier this week that Labour was scaremongering on unemployment and underscores the Government's ongoing failure to take the recession seriously."
Other reaction to the latest figures included:
* Business NZ said the country had been in recession since early 2008, longer than other developed countries and well before the beginning of the global downturn.
"The fact that the unemployment rate is not higher is a testament to the loyalty of New Zealand employers who have demonstrated great commitment to retaining staff," said chief executive Phil O'Reilly.
* The Council of Trade Unions said the Government should urgently expand its programmes.
"The rise to 6 percent unemployment is a shocking result ... we are very worried that Treasury's May forecast of a peak of 8 percent in late 2010 will be exceeded," said CTU economist Bill Rosenberg.
* The Greens said the statistics showed the international recession was really kicking in.
"It is a lot of people out of work, about twice the population of Dunedin," said MP Sue Bradford.
"Also noticeable is the sharp rise in women's unemployment and in the number of people who have been pushed into part-time hours."
