Out-of-work Telecom engineers have begun to swell the ranks of the unemployed in Northland.
The region has the highest unemployment rate in the country, at close to 9%.
The head of Work and Income in Northland, Clive Manley, says 550 of the 700 Telecom technicians in Auckland and Northland have been offered work by new contractor Visionstream, and a number of those made redundant are signing up for the dole.
Mr Manley says Work and Income is managing to find work for about a third of its Northland clients and new jobs have opened up in the past month in forestry and hospitality.
Some former Telecom technicians may find work as the government rolls out its broadband projects, he says.
