Bay of Plenty beneficiary numbers continue to drop with fewer teen parents collecting welfare around the country.
But a Tauranga support service advocate says more people are getting back into work with the promise of moving to Australia.
Just-released Ministry of Social Development figures show 10,457 Western Bay residents claimed benefits in the three months to June 30 - nearly 725 fewer than during the same quarter last year and 162 fewer than the previous three-month period. Tauranga experienced the biggest drop, of 477 to 8076 year-on-year, while the rest of the Western Bay dipped 245 to 2381.
Te Tuinga Whanau Support Services Trust executive director Tommy Kapai-Wilson said most of the people the trust saw were single parents. "Getting a job isn't really a reality in a lot of ways. They're the caregivers, the providers, they're the mothers. Are more and more of them getting jobs? Not from where we are."
However, he said more people seemed to be getting back to work, potentially lured by the promise of success across the ditch.