New Zealanders failed pre-employment drug tests just 466 times since they were introduced three years ago, Ministry of Social Development figures show.
The Herald sought the figures after Prime Minister Bill English cited the number of young Kiwis failing workplace drug tests as a reason not to further limit unskilled migrant numbers.
English said the Government did not keep records of failed or refused drug tests, but businesses raised the issue with him "two or three times a week".
The ministry's figures, however, showed a relatively low level of jobseekers testing positive for drugs. There were 466 "drug-related work obligation failures" between July 2013 and June 2016 "which may have included a drug test refusal, failure of an evidential drug test or screening drug test".
The ministry was unable to immediately say how many people were tested in total over this period. But previous responses under the Official Information Act said there were between 29,000 and 32,000 tests a year. That would mean around 0.5 per cent of jobseekers had failed drug tests.