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Labour leader Phil Goff and National leader John Key - Source: ONE News -
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A Treasury report saying that there is no evidence raising the minimum wage would cause job losses has been ignored by National party leader John Key, says Labour leader Phil Goff.
Labour is campaigning to raise minimum wage from $13 to $15.
Key has criticised Labour's policy, saying the increased costs will force employers to reduce staff numbers.
At the leaders' debate in Christchurch, Key said that small businesses such as cafes would struggle.
"Lift the wage overnight from $13 to $15? What that'll see is some people paid more, and another chunk of New Zealanders lose their job," said Key.
National have also included the immediate 15% ($2) increase in minimum wage in their list of "10 big extra costs Labour would add onto the economy".
But Goff says Key ignored a Treasury report in his criticism of Labour's policy.
The report says, "We have evidence that has not been true in the past, so without new evidence the balance of probabilities is that a higher minimum wage does not generally lead to higher unemployment."
Dated March 5, 2010, the report has been released under an Official Information Act request.
"John Key has known this for 18 months. But that has not stopped him repeatedly telling New Zealanders that Labour's plan to lift the rate to $15 an hour in its first year in government would cost jobs. He based this on a report from the Department of Labour.
"It is outrageous that he's sat on this advice all this time and tried to fool people by talking only about one report, instead of putting all the facts on the table," said Goff.
Labour says that raising the minimum wage would put more money into the economy, creating more jobs.
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