Industrial unions say the job market seems to have all but dried up.
A string of companies have announced redundancies in the past month, forcing hundreds of workers to join the dole queue.
Gisborne has been particularly hard hit, with the closure of a sawmill and a food processing factory.
Meanwhile, the Engineering Printing and Manufacturing Union says the situation in Wellington is just as bleak.
Thirty-three people at laundry powder manufacturer Unilever will lose their jobs on Friday, as will 50 from furniture maker Formway.
The union and the Council of Trade Unions say that in the past it has been able to find redundant workers some sort of alternative employment, but now such workers are having to join the dole queue.
