Youth employment focus in Wairarapa

UCOL Wairarapa manager Angela Hewitt said youth employment was "a hot topic in the region".

A combined approach to provide jobs, education and lifestyle opportunities is the key to improving youth employment, a local education provider says.

In Masterton, there were 205 young people (aged 18 to 24) on Job Seeker support benefits as of September 30, according to the Ministry of Social Development.

This was 19 fewer than in June, but five more than the same time a year ago.

In Carterton, there were 42 young people receiving Job Seeker support as of September, 44 as of June, and 36 as of September last year.

UCOL Wairarapa manager Angela Hewitt said youth employment was "a hot topic in the region", which education providers, local businesses, the council and the community needed to work together on.

"We need to provide opportunities so that all young people can be engaged in education, training or employment," she said. "Each individual has different needs so we need to tailor options to the needs of each individual."

Vocational pathways that allowed secondary students to try out different careers and STAR short courses that taught basic career-focussed skills were examples of effective ways of directing youth towards employment, she said.

Showing youth that Wairarapa was a good place to live was another important part of getting youth employed locally, particularly in order to attract those who had left for further education or training opportunities back to the region, she said.

Nationally, there were 24,640 in the 18 to 24 years age group on Job Seeker support benefits at the end of September. This was almost 300 more than in June, but 133 less than the same time a year ago.

Former chair of the Mayors Taskforce for Jobs - a nationwide network of mayors dedicated to getting young people into education and jobs - Dale Williams said youth employment was an issue of our time.

"Communities all around the world are realising that, as their older people retire, there's just not the numbers of young people coming through to take those jobs, so the race is on," he said.

"At the moment there's no shortage of young people in communities and there's no shortage of jobs but there is a big gap between employers expectations for entry level staff and young people's ability to match those expectations.

"It's nobody's fault, it's just a historical gap that needs to be closed."

Mr Williams, also a former Otorohanga mayor, said money was not an issue.

"Youth employment is probably the greatest opportunity that communities have to really create their own point of difference.

"All it takes is a small group of people who understand education, training and employment to close the gaps."

Governments were not the best bodies to solve the issue, Mr Williams said.

"If you're serious about breaking intergenerational patterns around employment, training and education it can't be done in one, two or three years.

APNZ