Rural leaders in $11.5m plan to combat Covid-19 job slump

Thursday, 30 July 2020

Ōtorohanga Mayor Max Baxter heads the Mayoral Taskforce for Jobs which is about to embark on its biggest initiative to help find young people employment around New Zealand.

The mayor of a Waikato town that once all but banished youth unemployment set to lead the national charge against rising youth unemployment in a post-covid economy.

The Government is pumping $11.5m into rural New Zealand to help young people into jobs as wage subsidies come to an end and their unemployment rate rises at twice the rate of older workers.

The Mayoral Taskforce for Jobs and the Ministry of Social Development have signed an agreement which will involve 23 rural councils each receiving $500,000 over the next year, to help match up job seekers with employers.

The initiative will aim to create 50 jobs in each council district over the 12 months, by assisting small to medium-sized businesses with recruitment, training and subsidies, to help them take on young workers or those who have been displaced due to the impact of Covid-19.

The programme will largely focus on young people, into their late 20s, not in education, employment or training.

Waitomo District Mayor John Robertson says the $500,000 fund could be used to help train young people to fit into existing employment opportunities which can lead on to long-term careers.

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Mayoral Taskforce for Jobs Chairman and Ōtorohanga Mayor Max Baxter said it would be the organisation’s biggest project to date.

He said rural councils had a better connection with their communities and were best placed to shoulder tap potential employers.

Training people for meatworks jobs was among the options for those in the new scheme. (FIle pic)

“Initiatives like this don’t come along very often and it’s a chance for 23 rural councils to broker employment opportunities, to move young people into work.

“It’s quite timely because the wage subsidies will be coming off soon and we are going to see the real extent of the damage caused by this pandemic.”

Ōtorohanga was the envy of provincial New Zealand a little over a decade ago after a concerted effort involving then-mayor Dale Williams and other community and business leaders to ensure an apprenticeship, job or training was there for all young people in the town.

That was designed to combat a skills shortage hindering local firms, but resulted in practically zero youth unemployment in the district for years.

Latest figures showed the number of people under 30 seeking unemployment support has increased from 4.1 per cent to 6.5 per cent, twice as much as those aged 30 to 64 between the months of February and April 2020.

There were 16,463 people in the Waikato on jobseeker support for June 2020, that’s 7.3 per cent of the working age population, compared to 11,889 people, or 5.4 per cent of the working age population, for June 2019.

The rural councils involved in the scheme were those with fewer than 20,000 people. In the Waikato that included Waitomo, Ōtorohanga and Hauraki district councils.

Some planned to use the fund to hire a dedicated co-ordinator, to match young people with training or employment.

Baxter said that seemed to be the way to go.

“The way I see this work in our districts is for Ōtorohanga to work alongside Waitomo and Maniapoto as well, and you would look at a central broker to find out what the needs are and identify the jobs out there.”

Baxter said it could be seasonal work, individual projects, training, travel to work support but the aim is for “long-term employment”.

There were 355 people in the Ōtorohanga district on job seeker benefits, including 193 men and 162 women, for the final quarter of 2019-20. Of those 78 were aged 18-24 and 112 were aged 24-39.

The number of people on job seeker benefits for November 2019 was 153, and post lockdown for June 2020, the number increased to 233 in Ōtorohanga.

In neighbouring Waitomo district, there were 501 people on job seeker benefits for the final quarter of 2019-20, including 276 men and 225 women. Of those, 122 were aged 18-24 and 152 were 25-39.

Those on job seeker benefits in Waitomo numbered 266 for November 2019 and it increased to 365 for June 2020.

Waitomo Mayor John Robertson said the district had three meat works plants, forestry and timber companies, as well as various Government projects where jobs might be found.

Meatworks were looking for staff in the King Country. (File pic)

“We need to fill those positions locally and this initiative will help us provide the correct training for people needed in those roles.”

Crusader Meats near Benneydale, about 30 minutes drive from Te Kuiti, is desperately trying to fill 20 positions now.

Its plant manager Mike Ramsay said he was keen to find out more about the Mayoral Taskforce for Jobs initiative.

“We always struggle a bit to find workers but we thought we would get more people looking for jobs after Covid however it just hasn’t happened.”

Ramsay, who had worked at the plant for 24 years, said the company employed 180-190 staff. It was a five-day operation and its peak season was from November through to March.

“We need people that want to work, people that can get to work, who are reliable and that can do physical day’s work.

“We want someone that we can train to become an A-grade butcher over time.”

Ministry of Social Development’s regional commissioner Gloria Campbell said working with councils would ensure people had access to employment and training opportunities.

”This investment will mean employment skills and jobs for young people who we know are impacted the most.

“We are certainly exploring ways to further optimise our services including work brokerage to help young people succeed.”

The other district councils involved included Buller, Carterton, Central Hawke’s Bay, Chathan Islands, Clutha, Gore, Grey, Hauraki, Hurunui, Kaikōura, Kawerau, Mackenzie, Ōpōtiki, Rangitīkei, Ruapehu, South Wairarapa, Straford, Tararua, Waimate, Wairoa and Westland.