North Island Weather Events - Employment Recovery Response - Budget 2023

Supporting employment services for people affected by Cyclone Gabrielle and the Auckland floods - Wellbeing Budget 2023

This initiative will fund employment programmes and services that support New Zealanders affected by the North Island Weather Events.

The Government is investing $35.2 million over two years (2023/24 and 2024/25), which will be ringfenced for employment products and services aimed at supporting New Zealanders affected by Cyclone Gabrielle and other extreme weather events to remain or return to employment, or upskill and train.

• This will reduce long-term economic, health and wellbeing impacts of the extreme weather events and support the Government’s aims of having a more productive, sustainable and equitable economy.
• The regions most impacted are also those with persistent poverty, lack of access to housing and repeated damage from past weather events. Recent weather events are likely to exacerbate pre-existing disadvantage. The clean-up and rebuild phases offer redeployment opportunities to support displaced workers, develop local skills and talent, and address some of these longer-term issues.
• Evidence and research on displacement suggests that even a period of a few months out-of-work can have a large and sustained impact on future earnings (wage scarring) and put people at risk of long-term benefit receipt. It is important to support New Zealanders displaced from employment quickly and early and return them to training or jobs swiftly to minimise the impact on them and their whānau.
• Over the next year, specialised support for the rebuild efforts will require investment in training programmes that support New Zealanders to gain the skills required to support the labour market needs of the rebuild.
• There are three broad outcomes that this initiative is intended to support:
  • keeping New Zealanders in employment, whether that be through internal redeployment or between employers
  • redeploying displaced New Zealanders back into employment quickly while ensuring their wellbeing
  • upskilling and training New Zealanders for emerging roles and opportunities that will arise through the rebuild, also supporting the rebuild to benefit from a pipeline of talent.
• While we know there will be increased demand for labour to support the rebuild, and a need for employment programmes to support people to take advantage of these opportunities, there are still unknowns in terms of scale, location and the types of support needed. MSD will respond to regional demand and support a regionally-led, centrally-supported approach.