Tuesday, 17 August, 2010 - 18:00

Phil Goff

Wellington, Aug 17 NZPA - When a new supermarket opened today in Auckland it created 150 new jobs, but that was a small comfort for the 2550 people who applied for jobs there and missed out, Labour leader Phil Goff said today.

Mr Goff today opened a New World supermarket in his Mt Roskill electorate, where the owner operator had told him 2700 people had applied for the 150 positions created in the new store.

"I had to ask the question -- where is John Key's recovery for the ordinary people in my electorate."

Mr Goff said supermarket owners had told him this was the worst period they could remember in retailing and they were concerned about further impacts from the rise in GST, which will increase from 12.5 to 15 percent on October 1.

"People are finding it hard to make ends meet now, that extra ... on top of all their groceries is just going to make life harder for them."

A spokesman for Foodstuffs, which owns the New World chain, said they were not surprised by the number of people who applied because a lot of people had applied for positions in other stores.

The selection of the 150 staff members was well managed through internal systems, he said.

Asked about the matter in Parliament today, Finance Minister Bill English said the high number of applicants was reflective of the sharp recession the economy had been through.