John Key would win a lot of Brownie points if he simply announced a high-powered Prime Minister's taskforce on youth employment.

NZ should hope John Key shows some common sense - tempered with heart - when he goes about trying to reduce from 328,000 the number of Kiwis on solo parent, sickness and invalid benefits, writes Fran O'Sullivan.

The New Zealand labour market remained relatively steady in the June 2011 quarter, Statistics New Zealand said today, with the unemployment rate remaining at 6.5 percent. The unemployment stats, just released, were largely expected by economists...

Balancing tax and spending is not a task we can afford to cede to appointed experts...

Lift in OCR tipped for as soon as September after prices rise 5.3pc.