Case Study: New Zealand Ministry of Social Development reduces long-term welfare dependency and boosts employment with SAS

New Zealand Ministry of Social Development uses big data to profoundly improve the lives of citizens

New Zealand’s Ministry of Social Development (MSD), the country’s largest government agency managing about $22 billion a year in social welfare, faced a growing problem of long‑term benefit dependency: roughly 13% of the working population was on an adult benefit, with a large share entering the system as teenagers. MSD needed to improve social outcomes while spending public funds responsibly, especially after finding a third of lifetime liability stemmed from people who entered welfare before age 18.

MSD adopted an “investment approach” powered by SAS analytics and cross‑agency data sharing to predict risk and target high‑needs groups—teen parents, disconnected youth and single parents—with mentoring, education, training and job support through programs like Youth Service. The targeted strategy drove measurable gains: adult benefit entry fell to a five‑year low, employment rose 9.3%, about 8,000 single parents left benefit (a 9.4% drop), and projected savings reached around $1 billion over four years.

Ministry of Social Development

Paula Bennett

Ministry of Social Development