Crisis on horizon unless jobs appear

Young people must be trained for specific regional jobs and industries.

Unemployed Wairarapa youths struggle to enter the job market because of a drug culture and lack of motivation, a recruitment consultant warns.

Boss Group owner Leanne Walsh, who works between Wairarapa and Hawkes Bay, said the Wairarapa drug culture was worse than what she saw in Hawkes Bay, with Wairarapa youth using marijuana over legal highs.

About 4000, or 11.7 per cent, of the Wellington region's young people aged 15-19 are out of work, and not in education or a training programme, according to Statistics New Zealand's Household Labour Force Survey for the December 2013 quarter.

Nationwide, 8.1 per cent of 15-19-year-olds are unemployed and not in education or training, while the overall unemployment rate sits at 6 per cent.

The Mayors Taskforce for Jobs, a network of all New Zealand mayors, held its first workshop last month to create an urgent plan to address regional youth unemployment.

Mrs Walsh said many young Wairarapa girls still thought becoming a young mother was a "career option".

"It's a small provincial town - the work opportunities there aren't that great. It's also a low wage economy. There's a high proportion of minimum wage jobs in the Wairarapa compared to Hawkes Bay, so why bother?"

Some young job seekers "just wanted to work" and Wairarapa employers were more willing to take young, inexperienced employees, as a result of a general labour shortage.

Many Wairarapa youths were motivated to get a driver's licence because the townships were spread out, which bucked the trend of a national decline in youth drivers, she said.

Taskforce chairman Clutha mayor Bryan Cadogan warned that with the combination of a high mature employment rate, a contracting youth population and major skills shortage, New Zealand's labour market was reaching a critical mass.

"We need to do better by working together to make sure our kids have the best opportunities to get jobs. We need to keep an eye on the "big picture", which is that we have increasing demand for labour and skills but fewer job seekers."

Young people must be trained for specific regional jobs and industries and employers should be supported to introduce younger, less-experienced workers into their businesses, in order to avoid a looming labour "crisis", he said.

"We have a lot of good kids in our communities who are out of work, and with the right leadership and guidance, those kids can fill those gaps in the employment market and ensure it remains sustainable."