The Bay of Plenty has the highest rate of young adults not in education, employment or training nationally. Photo / 123rf
The Bay of Plenty has the highest rate of young adults not in education, employment or training nationally. Photo / 123rf
A “breakdown of society”, social media, and fewer face-to-face connections are barriers for rangatahi [young people] moving into education or employment, a kaupapa Māori health support service leader says.
The Salvation Army’s latest State of the Nation report showed in June 2022, 18.7 per cent - or 6500 - of 15 to 24-year-olds in the region were not in education, employment, or training.
This rate is nearly three times higher than the region with the lowest rate which is Wellington at 6.6 per cent.
Te Arawa Whānau Ora chief executive Paora Te Hurihanganui said the main barriers facing rangatahi moving into education or employment came down to “the different social structures”.
“If we rewind back to when we had a higher sense of community wellbeing and support, rangatahi felt valued,” he said.
“Their purpose in life has really come down to going to school and getting a job ... not for rangatahi to know who they are.
“Find their identity, find what they love and find their purpose in life and then we can support them into jobs and education.”
Te Hurihanganui said the “breakdown of society,” fewer face-to-face connections, and social media had “a real impact”.
Te Arawa Whānau Ora - which covered the area between Maketu and Tongariro - was one of several Rotorua-based providers who helped rangatahi.
Te Hurihanganui said it specialised in “aspirational planning” for whānau.
“It’s not all about work and it’s not all about study - it might be getting it right in the home, it might be parenting.”
Rotorua Lakes High School principal Jon Ward said there were several challenges facing students staying in school.
“We have a very buoyant job market for students who can go straight into apprenticeships and the likes, so the desire to stay in school to year 13 [or] year 12 is actually diminished.
“Engagement is another issue and it’s a focus that all schools are trying to target and we’ve developed a specific programme this year around engaging with our year 11 and 12 [students] to give them alternative pathways through to getting their [NCEA] level two outcomes.”
RotoruaNZ chief executive Andrew Wilson. Photo / Andrew Warner
Economic development agency RotoruaNZ chief executive Andrew Wilson said much of its work focussed on helping to create employment opportunities in Rotorua.
In September, it partnered with Student Job Search and local high schools to run a nationwide campaign aimed at activating students to apply for “their best summer jobs ever” at local tourism, accommodation, and hospitality businesses.
The campaign reached a potential 350,000 tertiary students across New Zealand, as well as local high school students over the age of 15, he said.
The Rotorua i-SITE also ran an internship programme each year with Toi Ohomai enabling students to gain hands-on learning experience which often results in ongoing employment at the i-SITE and within the tourism and hospitality industry.
The Salvation Army’s social policy and parliamentary unit senior social policy analyst Paul Barber.
The Salvation Army’s social policy and parliamentary unit senior social policy analyst Paul Barber said the report was about looking at the state of the nation from the perspective of people on lower incomes or in marginalised communities.
“So we’re looking at the things that make a difference for them.”
Looking at the figures of young adults not in education, employment, or training, Barber said it was “striking” how big the differences were regionally.
Barber said students leaving school in the Bay of Plenty were among the “lower achievement rates” nationally.
“So you’re getting a kind of flow on, I guess, from not completing school with at least NCEA one ... and that makes it much more difficult for you to move on into other training or education or employment once you’re leaving school.
Many young people also had “uncertain” living situations, affecting their education and ability to find and hold work or pursue training.
Barber said there was a “strong link” between this and the “really high rates” of those who needed social housing in the Bay of Plenty.
The report said “urgent housing” continued to be “particularly problematic” in the Bay of Plenty region. It compared the public housing register to the number of public tenancies and found the Bay of Plenty, together with the Central and Taranaki regions, had the biggest demand for public housing.
It showed there were 2025 applicant households on the housing register as of September 2022 and 2952 public housing tenancies.
“Social housing doesn’t turn over that fast. That means long waiting times,” Barber said.
He said the average wait time for a house in New Zealand was around 10 months.
Barber said it was a “real struggle” in the rental market for people due to rising costs.
“There’s a challenge ahead to make sure that we’re supporting people to try and get into private rental tenancies and look at how things like the accommodation supplement can be made to work better to help people stay in their tenancies or even find a place that they maybe don’t need to get into social housing.”
Barber acknowledged progress had been made with an increase in welfare assistance and people’s wages rising. Additionally, the number of those on the social housing waitlist had fallen nationally by 4000 since April.
“So there’s a real sign that perhaps we’re beginning to see some easing but we’ve still got a long way to go.”
A police spokesperson said police worked closely with partner agencies to provide wide support to young people and their families with the aim to deter offending.
“There are a range of remedial options for police to use when dealing with youth offending, and the approach taken is decided based on the individual circumstances of each incident.”
Police figures showed there were 88 ram raids in the Bay of Plenty between April 1, 2021, and December 31, 2022.
In its 2021-2022 annual report, police said many offenders were aged under 17 years old, including children as young as 7.
The offending was likely driven by a combination of young people exposed to a negative home environment, disengaged from school and their communities, the monetary gain from stealing, and the use of social media - particularly TikTok - to gain notoriety.
The Rotorua Salvation Army was approached for comment.
