If some beneficiaries are too dangerous to be dealt with face-to-face, their benefits should be cancelled says Kerre Woodham.

Beneficiaries who undergo a review after a year on an unemployment benefit will not lose that assistance if they can't find work, Paula Bennett says.

The economy's prospects look a lot brighter in the Treasury's latest forecasts than they did when it was preparing the Budget in April.

Treasury says NZ has come through the financial crisis in better shape than most of its traditional trading partners.

New Zealand's unemployment rate has climbed to its highest level since the so-called "winter of discontent" in 2000.

The unemployment rate rose to a nine-year high 6.5 per cent in the September quarter.

Consumer confidence is the highest it has been since December 2007, according to the monthly ANZ-Roy Morgan survey.

Double accounting major forced to go on the dole after job-seeking desperation.