KEY POINTS:
Community groups and some small business sectors are upset that they have been left off the invitation list for Prime Minister John Key's Jobs Summit in Manukau on Friday.
The guest list, released on Monday night, includes only three people from the community sector: Auckland City Missioner Diane Robertson, Salvation Army social services director Campbell Roberts and a policy adviser for the disability group DPA, Wendi Wicks.
Instead, 118 of the 194 invited are from the business sector - mostly from big businesses (62) and finance (22), but including 30 from smaller businesses and sector groups and four from state-owned enterprises.
The rest are from central and local government, education and training organisations, unions, iwi groups and a handful of academics and researchers.
The list includes 165 men and just 30 women. At least 20 are Maori, but only two are known to be of part-Pacific Island heritage: Rick Fala of the tap maker Methven and NZ Super Fund chief executive Adrian Orr.
Fletcher Building chief executive Jonathan Ling will be the sole flagbearer for the Asian community.
The director of the Federation of Voluntary Welfare Organisations, Tina Reid, said she was "really disappointed" there was no link between a meeting of community groups and charitable funders taking place today and the Friday summit.
Many community groups face a funding crisis because trusts such as the ASB Trust and Bay Trust have lost money on overseas investments and have cancelled their first funding rounds this year.
"About 9.6 per cent of the economically active population are in our sector. We are a huge employer," Ms Reid said. "In hard times the community sector is also really important for providing people with opportunities for assistance, for volunteering, for strengthening community ties.
"So I would have hoped there would be a reasonable representation. I don't think three is reasonable."
Volunteering NZ director Tim Burns said he also applied to attend the jobs summit but was turned down, even though volunteering was a way to keep people "connected to the workforce" in a recession.
Motor Trade Association chief executive Stephen Matthews said small business groups like his were also disappointed to have been left out.
"We don't think small business is being represented here overly well."
Diane Robertson, who will co-chair a sub-group at the summit on "transition and adjustment arrangements", said she would push for more help from employers and from Work and Income for people who lose their jobs.
WHO WILL BE THERE
* Big business: 62
* Small business/ sector groups: 24
* Small hi-tech businesses: 6
* Finance: 22
* Central government: 30
* Local government: 10
* State-owned enterprises: 4
* Education & training: 8
* Academics & researchers: 4
* Unions: 12
* Iwi: 10
* Community: 3
* Total: 195
