KEY POINTS:
Beneficiaries will be able to earn more money before they lose their benefits if Labour is re-elected on November 8, party leader Helen Clark announced today.
Miss Clark said threshold from April 2010 would lift from $80 a week to $100, to $120 from 2011 and $140 from 2012.
The changes were estimated to cost a total of $133 million over the years in question.
The National Party released a similar policy earlier this year.
Miss Clark said the abatement threshold had not been adjusted since 1996.
"We'd love to have moved on it before," she said.
"Over nine years we've been rebuilding a lot of areas of rundown investment in public and social services and so, when we look at what our top priorities would be for policies at this time, we brought this one right up to the top half dozen.
"I believe myself there are always dynamic effects of this, because if you can encourage people to pick up more part-time work you've got a better chance of getting them to move on into employment, so I think a lot of good will come from it."
Miss Clark said Labour had done a lot to help those on benefits and the move to full employment had seen unemployment benefit numbers crash.
- NZPA
