Dole sign-ups fall

The number of people signing up for the dole has fallen for the seventh successive week, Prime Minister John Key said yesterday.

The total stood at 59,028 last week, which was about 23,000 lower than the Treasury's worst-case scenario and better than any of its projections, he said.

The number of people on the sickness benefit stood at 56,769 and there were 85,085 on the invalids' benefit. Those figures were roughly the same as at the same time last year.