The number of people on unemployment benefits continues to rise in the South as the recession bites and the "new poor" look for help, with further rises predicted in the next year.
Figures released by the Ministry of Social Development this week showed that in the year to June an extra 2351 people south of the Rangitata River sought assistance through the unemployment benefit, bringing the total number of people on an unemployment benefit in the region to 3938.
The number of people on the domestic purposes benefit also rose, by 357 to 5208, as did those on the sickness benefit, by 407 to 3298.
The number on the invalid's benefit dropped by 64 to 6863.
Nationally, the number of people on the unemployment benefit rose from 17,710 last year to 50,855 this year.
Ministry of Social Development southern region commissioner John Allen said those getting unemployment benefits were the "new poor".
They were people who at the start of last year were employed, often in highly skilled positions, before being made redundant and finding themselves suddenly without money - although not everyone who was unemployed was on a benefit.
In the southern region, the growth in the number of people accessing the unemployment benefit was "bigger than we had expected".
However, Mr Allen said work being done to put people in jobs could mean once the recession passed numbers on unemployment benefits could reach a new low.
About 20% of people saying they had lost their job and wanted the unemployment benefit were instead being helped straight back into the work force, he said.
The ministry was also looking at building relationships, not only with employers but also with industries.
They were connecting with the economic development unit at the Dunedin City Council, the Otago Chamber of Commerce and the Otago Southland Employers Association.
Oamaru food bank co-ordinator Bernard Wilkinson estimated demand had increased by about 50% over the past two months due to unemployment.
In Queenstown, where the number of people claiming the unemployment benefit had risen from two to 114 in the past few months, Salvation Army community worker John Helvadjian believed the problem would get worse when the snow melted.
