Some future jobs are yet to be defined. Photo / Getty Images
The Western Bay of Plenty faces a major labour crunch unless it fosters the skills needed to fill an estimated 25,000 new jobs in the next 15 years.
That's the goal of economic development agency Priority One's Future of Work campaign, which aims to ensure the Western Bay's workforce is equipped to adapt and fill predicted labour shortages.
The $8000 campaign is being launched with a series of online videos.
Chief operations officer Greg Simmonds said the region needed to retain young people and attract talent to meet future labour needs.
The campaign aims to help prepare the region to fill up to 25,000 jobs expected to be created by 2036.
By 2050, the number of new jobs was expected to jump to 40,000.
"We need local people to help fill those," Simmonds said.
"We need to prepare the workforce of tomorrow so they can tackle the challenges that these changes will bring."
Many future jobs haven't been defined, he said, but skills such as critical thinking, creativity, communication, collaboration, character, and culture would be needed.
He was concerned many young people were studying subjects that did not necessarily align to future job opportunities, he said.
Tertiary Education Commission data shows engineering, society and culture, management and commerce, sciences, and food and hospitality are popular subjects.
However, the predicted national growth sectors are agriculture and agri-tech, education, health, and IT.
"There's clearly a disconnect," Simmonds said.
"When you look locally, the sectors expected to generate the biggest number of jobs by 2050 are professional services and business support, health, construction and trades, agriculture and horticulture, manufacturing, and education."
Simmonds said part of the campaign was about how to better prepare young people for the changes in the workforce.
According to growth projections, Māori and Pasifika will make up 30 per cent of the working-age population across the Bay by 2030 and half by 2050.
"We need to develop and enable local people to meet predicted labour market shortages – particularly our growing Māori youth population."
Recruitment agency QJumpers co-founder Simon Oldham said the Bay was maturing with more companies opening offices, more start-ups and skills from other major cities, especially Auckland.
The Bay was a "region of choice" for skilled immigrants, he said.
"Covid has definitely accelerated this trend as working remotely is now not only possible, but expected in many industries."
Oldham said there were major shortages in the horticulture, trades, manufacturing, engineering and technology sectors.
"These jobs are in most sectors but [the Western Bay is] becoming a more acceptable choice in many innovative sectors like agri-tech, software technology, agriculture and horticulture, engineering, marine science.
"Then there are the other industries that come with population growth like hospitality, construction, trades, health."
Oldham said the region was starting to "breed our own talent".
"More graduates are choosing to stay in the region to study – because now they can. "
The Staffroom Ltd director Jill Cachemaille said students should be taught how businesses work and companies are structured, not just about the relevant subjects for particular careers.
"Young candidates are not realistic about having to work their way up the ladder, they expect promotions and benefits in the first five minutes of being employed.
"Candidates that are educated and informed about the reality of what really happens in a business will start with the right expectation and therefore likely to stay longer and subsequently be a better investment for an employer."
Tauranga Chamber of Commerce chief executive Matt Cowley said the diverse Bay economy meant there would low and high-skill shortages across the board.
Cowley said industries, educators and government immigration agencies needed to improve their future insights to avoid critical labour gaps in the future.
"By the time there is a labour shortage, it's too late."
Professor Alister Jones, senior deputy vice-chancellor of the University of Waikato, said it was working with Priority One on how to meet the region's skills needs, "foster innovation and ensure qualifications are industry relevant for the next 20-plus years".
Jones said the Tauranga campus cemented the university's presence in the Bay.
"We are keeping abreast of changing industry needs, working closely with employers and putting in place initiatives that will ensure the future labour force develops skills in line with the region's competitive strengths."
Toi Ohomai faculty dean Brian Dillon there was a "substantial number" of students taking advantage of courses funded under the Government's Targeted Training and Apprenticeship Fund.
New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Incorporated chief executive Colin Bond and New Zealand Certified Builders chief executive Grant Florence both welcomed initiatives to meet projected labour demands.
IDENTIFYING SKILLS
QJumpers co-founder Simon Oldham said the Ministry of Education needed to look at what skills were required in the workforce and what was needed to train future Kiwis to perform those skills.
"There needs to be skill-based programmes as employers are more than ever going to have to employ based on skill – not experience."
He said the Ministry of Education should be one step ahead, changing the curriculum to embrace and plan for the future.
"If schools can do more of this, the kids will get excited ... If they know that there are great innovative companies in the region who have jobs like this and that these companies can help to develop their careers, then we are on the right path to retaining our local talent."
Acting deputy secretary of graduate achievement, vocations and careers, Katrina Sutich, said it recognised the need to improve pathways for students from school into vocational training and had introduced initiatives to ensure the people graduated with "the right skills at the right time" to address skill shortages.
The Ministry was also working to strengthen NCEA to improve wellbeing, equity, coherence, pathways and credibility – for students and teachers.
Western Bay of Plenty District could have fewer councillors to vote for next election.