Employment
Having a job is key to being able 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
The East Coast is built on agriculture, horticulture and viticulture, and tourism. All of these industries have played a significant part in our region’s success. Our strong seasonal work opportunities have protected us somewhat from the recession. We know this will not last and the impact of the economic downturn will be felt in the off-season.
We are working with industries and employers to adapt our services to meet their needs. We are also exploring jobseekers’ transferable skills to make sure they can seize opportunities with local employers when they arise.
Working with employers
We held two economic summits in the East Coast Region, building on the momentum of the Job Summit.[1] The Hawke’s Bay Summit in March 2009 was co-hosted with the Eastern Institute of Technology, Hawke’s Bay Inc and the Hawke’s Bay Chamber of Commerce. The 120 people who attended heard from a wide range of speakers from various sectors including the construction, retail, food processing, manufacturing and tourism sectors.
The second summit in Gisborne in April this year was attended by 70 people. The summit was co-hosted by the Gisborne District Council, the Gisborne Chamber of Commerce, the Gisborne branch of the Employers and Manufacturing Association, and the Ministry.
Both events gave attendees information about the economy, its future prospects and its local impacts. The summits also explored the opportunities and challenges within the region and provided forums for the exchange of suggestions and ideas.
Industry/employer partnerships
We work with industries at a national level to minimise skill and labour shortages, and to maximise job opportunities. We currently have 80 national industry and major employer partnerships. 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.
To make sure local jobseekers can take advantage of local opportunities we are developing industry partnerships with healthcare and horticulture providers in our region. These partnerships are designed to help employers address local skills shortages and to help us to better respond to emerging local employment opportunities. If jobseekers in the area don’t have the appropriate skills we can work directly with industries to identify and contract the appropriate training courses.
Straight 2 Work
To make sure we have jobseekers with the right skills, we run tailored Straight 2 Work programmes with our industry partners. Straight 2 Work programmes don’t follow the standard paths of most employment training programmes. They are developed by industry for industry, making the training relevant to the needs of employers.
Help keep businesses going
Businesses with more than 50 employees that are experiencing a temporary downturn can get extra help from us through the Job Support Scheme. The scheme pays an allowance for those workers who agree to work reduced hours. This means employers can keep as many jobs as possible while firms’ earnings are down.
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 are getting East Coast people into work and helping them to stay there. We do this by working with people to search for work when they seek help from us.
Help for people affected by redundancy
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 will continue to help employers through their challenges in managing business change and to help affected employers and employees to better understand what support and financial assistance is available to them.
For people who have been made redundant and can’t find other work, we deliver the ReStart package. ReStart offers financial help for up to 16 weeks for those people who have been made redundant and need extra help. It also provides extra accommodation and childcare assistance.
[1] The Prime Minister’s Summit on Employment (the Job Summit) was held in February 2009 as a forum to generate practical, achievable steps to save and create as many jobs as possible.
