One of the Government's flagship job saving schemes is set to be discontinued.

Prime Minister John Key says it is unlikely the nine day fortnight initiative will be extended beyond the end of this year.

"I think it's unlikely that it would be extended. I mean we're starting to see much stronger economic growth. Treasury and the Reserve Bank expectations are that we'll achieve quite reasonable growth in 2010, so hopefully that won't be necessary."

The initiative was one of the major announcements to be made at last year's Jobs Summit. It had a limited uptake, although Fisher and Paykel was one manufacturer to adopt it.

Labour finance spokesman David Cunliffe says the nine day fortnight was not bad, it just was not a big enough response to a major recession.

"Unemployment has more than doubled since Labour left office. And we don't even know if it's peaked yet. It's absolute bollocks for the Prime Minister to say the need for the nine day fortnight is gone."

Mr Cunliffe says to cancel the nine day fortnight now takes away the Government's fig leaf that it is acting on unemployment and reveals there is not much there.