Wellington, May 14 NZPA - Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) staff were today told which of them would lose their job.

Chief executive Roy Sharp had earlier announced 70 jobs would be cut, allowing TEC to take a "lighter-hand" in the sector.

Workers today found out if their job was safe, with some teams losing up to 80 percent of staff, Labour MP Grant Robertson said.

"These are people with families and responsibilities, many with mortgages to pay, who will be concerned about their future," he said.

"So much for a Government that said its number one priority was keeping people in work."

A TEC spokeswoman confirmed staff were notified whether they had received a new position or been made redundant.

She said there were some outside applications for new positions and the final number of redundancies was unclear.

Dr Sharp said the agency would prioritise its efforts on a few organisations that required additional support while offering streamlined services to those that were managing well.

NZPA PAR kc kn