Experts say that although the region has seen an increase in jobs companies are struggling to find people to fill skilled positions. Photo / File
Experts say that although the region has seen an increase in jobs companies are struggling to find people to fill skilled positions. Photo / File
The number of people on the unemployment benefit in Hawke's Bay is the highest it has been in six years, with business leaders saying the move to a more skilled workforce is partly to blame.
Latest Ministry of Social Development (MSD) stats show the number of people in the EastCoast Region on the Jobseeker Support benefit has increased by more than 600 people over the past year.
At 7613 in December 2018, it hit 8294 in December 2019, the highest number recorded since 2014.
Experts say the region now has more jobs than ever available, but it is increasingly for skilled work, rather than menial jobs that are more likely to be taken up by a jobseeker.
Ongoing skills shortages in the region mean that many Hawke's Bay businesses can't find the workers they need, says Business Hawke's Bay chief executive Carolyn Neville.
"Attracting entrepreneurial, technical, trades and professionally skilled people is critical to driving growth and making our region more innovative and sustainable.
"Hawke's Bay's talent attraction strategy is the way our region will compete more effectively both nationally and internationally in the race for talent."
She said that if those positions are struggled to be filled this is a real threat to the sustainable growth of Hawke's Bay's economy.
Ongoing skills shortages mean that many Hawke's Bay businesses can't find the workers they need, says Business Hawke's Bay chief executive Carolyn Neville. Photo / File
Neville said Business Hawke's Bay, together with other regional stakeholders will this year launch Hawke's Bay's talent attraction strategy, a new initiative and a key deliverable of Matariki: Hawke's Bay's regional development strategy for economic and inclusive growth, to attract people with skills the region needs.
This is supposed to help develop and support people in possibly moving and growing into those skilled positions and build their skills.
The number of people nationally on Jobseeker Support has increased by 10 per cent over the same period to a total of 147,464.
Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni has put the increase down to a softening in some sectors, like manufacturing, and low unemployment which made for a tight labour market.
But she said she was "heartened" by numbers that also showed an increasing number of people coming off the benefit and into employment over two consecutive quarters.
"We're not interested in just getting people off benefit for the sake of it, we need to know that they're going on to something positive and we're seeing that."
The number of people on the benefit has been steadily rising since the end of December 2017 when the number sat at 289,788. It has now reached 314,408.
National slammed the rising figures with leader Simon Bridges saying benefit numbers were now back to levels last seen during the Global Financial Crisis around a decade ago.
"Thousands of vulnerable Kiwis are now also struggling to find jobs with the economy showing sluggish growth and no plan from the Government to deliver the growth New Zealand needs."
