Mayors' Sweet campaign helps jobless youth

Annette Main

Wanganui's mayor is targeting youth unemployment with a "sweet" project to get disengaged youth back on track.

The 100% Sweet project sees local businesses, government agencies, educators and training providers join together to help young people become "happy, prosperous members of our economy", says Annette Main.

About 1500, or 8.7 per cent of Manawatu-Wanganui young people aged 15-19 are out of work, and not in education or training, 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 current overall unemployment rate sits at 6 per cent.

The nationwide 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.

In Wanganui, Ms Main said the just-launched 100% Sweet programme included surveying employers on job opportunities available, and what skills young people would need for particular jobs.

Finding job opportunities was one of the challenges out-of-work Wanganui youth faced, she said.

As part of the project, school leaver data would also be tracked and youth would receive ongoing support to ensure they remained engaged in work or training.

Taskforce chair 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 the fact 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.

The Government announced last week that the minimum wage would rise by 50c an hour to $14.25 from April 1.

Prime Minister John Key said the increase would have a "negligible" effect on the availability of jobs.