Employment
Having a job is key to being able to provide for yourself and your family.
In these tough economic times we're working hard to help people stay in work, or get a job if they are not already in work. For those who can't find work, we will be here to help, but our first priority will always be to get people back into the workplace as soon as possible.
Our local labour market
Our local labour market is driven by manufacturing, retail trade, property and business services. Dairy farming and other land-based industries, such as viticulture, are our growing industries. However, in the changing economic environment some industries have suffered, including the region's key driver of the local economy, manufacturing, and many employers have reduced staff numbers.
In a shifting economic environment, we need to think smarter about what we do and how we do it. One of the ways we are doing this is by changing how we work with employers so we can match people's skills to the needs of the employers. For some individuals, this means training them to have the right skills to get into work and stay in work.
Working with employers
We hosted a regional economic summit, the Canterbury Employment Summit, to carry on the momentum of the Job Summit.[1] The summit gave employers the opportunity to focus on how to protect jobs and on ways to help develop the skills of their workforce. We will work with employers and industries to continue the momentum of this work, including seeing through some of the ideas of the summit which were passed on to the Mayoral Taskforce.
Industry/employer partnerships
We work with industries at a national level to minimise skill and labour shortages, and to maximise job opportunities. These partnerships are designed to address the needs of industries by delivering targeted industry-specific skills training and, at the same time, jobs for programme participants.
We currently have 80 industry and major employer partnerships nationwide. These partnerships include those with major industries like agriculture, construction and hospitality. We also have partnerships with regional Chambers of Commerce and large employers like Telecom, Air New Zealand, Fonterra, Westpac and McDonald's. In Canterbury, we are actively promoting industry partnerships to local businesses. In our region, we currently have a partnership with City Care and a pre-cadet programme in the horticulture sector.
In 2009/2010 we will run industry partnership programmes in Canterbury including:
- pre-apprenticeship trades training with City Care
- training programmes with the seafood industry.
We will also make more places available for our young people in industry partnership programmes.
Straight 2 Work
Typically, our work with industry and employer partners results in Straight 2 Work programmes. These programmes offer pre- and post-employment training and support. They are developed by industry for industry, making the training relevant to the needs of employers. In Canterbury we have Straight 2 Work programmes with the retail, hospitality, bus and coach, and meat processing sectors.
Help keep businesses going
Businesses with more than 50 employees feeling the direct effects of the economic downturn, can get extra support from us through the Job Support Scheme. The scheme pays an allowance for workers who agree to work reduced hours. This means employers can keep as many jobs as possible while the company's earnings are down. Right now we are helping a number of businesses through this scheme in our region.
Despite a business's best efforts to stay afloat, there will be times when it's not enough. When this happens, we will work hard to help those people worst affected by redundancy to find other job opportunities.
We work with affected employers and employees to understand the support and financial assistance available to them. We also work with other agencies such as Career Services and the Department of Labour, so we can provide information that is helpful and easily available to those people affected by redundancy.
Getting people into work
Our 'Work First' focus
We are finding that the type of person coming to us for job search help has changed - they have more skills and a different expectation of our services. This has meant that we have had to respond to better meet their needs.
We have changed our service delivery model to assess how quickly we can get people back into work. We have improved the ease of finding work for self driven jobseekers, improved our services to employers, and ensured that appropriate job vacancies are made more readily available. If a person loses their job, it's important they find another one quickly. They are more likely to be attractive to employers while their skills are current and they still have confidence.
We want people living in Canterbury to get into work and to stay in work. In 2009/2010 we'll:
- form partnerships with local industries and employers to help them get the right people with the right skills
- make sure jobseekers have the right information about our local labour market.
Help for people affected by redundancy
For people who've been made redundant and who can't find other work, we offer the ReStart package. ReStart offers financial help for up to 16 weeks for those people who have been made redundant and need extra help. So far, we have helped 475 people in our region.2
