'Very solvable:' 800 Southland youngsters on jobseeker benefit
“If you look at South Auckland - for example - they are much bigger numbers, and they don’t have the economic opportunities that Southland’s exploring at the moment. Some of which a really close."
Employment Minister Louise Upston has real concerns about the number of young people on jobseeker benefits but says Southland is one region that can easily sort it.
Southland currently has 3445 people on a jobseeker benefit which equates to about 5.5% of the working age population.
“The group that I worry the most about is the under 25s, and there’s 800 [on a jobseeker benefit] in Southland,” Upston told The Tribune during a visit to Invercargill on Tuesday.
Upston was a keynote speaker at the Murihiku Regeneration Energy, Innovation and Opportunities Expo at the Ascot Park Hotel.
A report was released last month which showed young people on benefits will spend on average 20 more years on welfare.
“What I find is that many organisations aren’t aware of that, and I want them to be very aware of it so when we are talking about economic opportunities we are talking about human capital, we are talking about our people.
“Some of them are ready [for jobs] now. Some of them will require a bit of support - some extra training - and others do need to be given a chance because they do have some extra challenges.
“The challenge for us as a country is that we don’t leave people behind.”
Upston said the 800 under-25-year-olds on a jobseeker benefit in Southland was lower than most regions in the country.
She added that 800 figure was a very solvable number for Southland.
“If you look at South Auckland - for example - they are much bigger numbers, and they don’t have the economic opportunities that Southland’s exploring at the moment. Some of which a really close.
“So, it’s about thinking through what are the workforce needs, what skills are required, and how do we build the local workforce and make sure that those who live in Southland have those opportunities to be connected to employment.”
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Upston praised the work that has been done in Southland around pursuing economic opportunities as part of the “Plan B” when talk of the possible smelter closure surfaced.
Although it’s since be confirmed the smelter will remain open until at last 2044.
“Now it’s really exciting because it’s a Tiwai and all of these other opportunities as well,” she said.
“We need to ensure where there are economic opportunities that we hire locals. Particularly because at the moment we have a large number of people on the job seeker benefit, some of whom have only just recently come on, so they are close to the labour market.”
Upston’s advice to businesses that have vacancies to fill was to build a strong relationship with the Ministry of Social Development.
Aquaculture has been identified as one key economic opportunity for Southland.
That industry would likely require a mixture of the level of employees, including highly-skilled workers.
“Sometimes what happens in a highly-skilled, highly specialised area, we might not have enough in New Zealand and that’s when you turn to immigration, which is fine in the short-term.
“But if you look at the young people in our high school system at the moment… The presentation before me [on Tuesday] was on oceans, talking about the fact we need 500 of our 11-year-olds to get much higher levels of maths and science and qualifications.
“We know that those jobs are going to be here in Southland, and so we’ve got to go to work on that now.”
The Murihiku Regeneration Energy, Innovation and Opportunities Expo continues on Wednesday at the Ascot Park Hotel.