Estimates Debate — Vote Employment

Tēnā koe e te Mana. I am pleased to rise to speak this afternoon about employment. In particular, I will concentrate on employment for our most vulnerable in the workforce, who I believe are our younger people. Young people have been well and truly overrepresented in the unemployment statistics, but the National-led Government has taken this bull by the horns, literally. Back in 2009 it announced a significant package of opportunities, called Youth Opportunities, for young people. First of all was Job Ops. There were 4,000 job opportunities, and after that still more were announced, and now that programme is up to 12,000 job opportunities. The reason for that number is that the Job Ops scheme is really working, and later I will give members some good examples of that from my own electorate.

Then there was Community Max, and it certainly has delivered for young people as well. There are more opportunities for young people in industry partnerships, the Youth Guarantee initiative, service academies, Limited Service Volunteers, polytech and technology institute funding boosts, and summer scholarships. Boy, did the students thank us for those summer scholarships.

In the southern region, where my electorate of Rangitata is, as at the end of May a total of 273 employers had taken advantage of the Job Ops package. The Timaru service centre had filled 70 Job Ops positions, and had a further three positions available, making a total of 73. In Ashburton the Community Link office, which is working exceptionally well there, filled 14 Job Ops positions and had a further one available. So there are many young people being employed in the region.

Job Ops is such an exciting opportunity. The programme was announced at the National Party 2009 weekend conference and the very next morning when I headed off to the gym—the Monday morning routine—someone tapped me on the shoulder and said: “You had a busy weekend, the National Party. I really like the sound of that Job Ops, and I’m going to be in on it.” That employer was one of the first to trot to Work and Income and have somebody sign up for it.

We can talk about policy and announcements until the cows come home. What about talking about some real people? Well, I will talk about them. The owner of Bloomers Florist, Cherilyn Kuperus, needed an extra pair of hands and turned to Work and Income and the Job Ops initiative for help. That Timaru employer received the information on Job Ops through the local chamber of commerce, because I got in touch with the chamber of commerce and asked them to please push it. About the same time, 17-year-old Hannah Braid came to Bloomers for work experience while she completed a floristry course. When the course finished, Hannah’s tutor contacted Cherilyn to see whether there was a job opening. The inquiry was just what Cherilyn needed to commit to Job Ops. Here is what she had to say about Hannah: “She is pretty good, and a lovely, keen kid. She understands floristry isn’t just about playing with flowers.” So that was one really good example. Hannah is now employed full time at Bloomers, having completed her Job Ops term earlier in the year. She has stayed on in that job after the Job Ops term was finished.

Then there was 17-year-old Cassandra Hefford, who left school with no qualifications or work experience, but wanted a job. With the help of Work and Income staff in Timaru and Job Ops, she is now employed doing something many young people would love to do, which is helping to plan fun activities for children. She is working at Chipmunks Playland and Cafe in Timaru. That particular business also showed a commitment to young people and signed up a Job Ops applicant.

In Ashburton there was a 17-year-old man who was in receipt of an invalids benefit, so it is not about just those who are not in work or on an unemployment benefit. This young man was on an invalids benefit, but he was keen to work. His health condition was well managed and stable, so he applied for a full-time job as a workshop assistant with an Ashburton employer. He missed out on that position, but the employer said that they might have some part-time work for him. He met with the Ashburton work broker—I have a lot of respect for work brokers because they help young people into work—to discuss employment options. Following that discussion, the work broker approached the Ashburton employer at the business where the young man had missed out on the workshop assistant position, and it was Job Ops that made the difference. The employer was pleased to utilise that funding to give that young man a chance. There is another example, again in Ashburton.

Tēnā koe, Mr Chair. Tēnā koutou e te Whare. Kia ora mai tātou, tēnā tātou katoa. I rise to take a slot in this debate on unemployment—or employment, whichever way we look at it, depending on whether one’s glass is half empty or half full.

We have done a lot of work with the unemployment sector. We are set on turning around some things. Bearing in mind the situation that we find ourselves in with the New Zealand economy having gone into recession a number of years before the international recession hit, the challenges have been difficult. We currently have just over 60,000 people on the unemployment benefit as at May 2010, compared with 45,000 in May 2009, which is a 31 percent increase in the past year.

The challenge of unemployment are very, very significant. But we are making that picture a little bit better by making some changes and providing some incentives, and by putting together some packages for employers, significant corporations, and non-governmental organisations, who are working together to assist people who find themselves in the situation of being unemployed. There are times, which are cyclical, where it will be more difficult for people to find employment. There will be other times, of course, when things will be easier. But we know that there are people out there who are very much interested in finding work.

To its credit, the previous Government managed to, in good times, reduce the level of unemployment right down to about 3.5 percent, which was a very good situation to be in. When the cycle went around, we knew that it would get more and more difficult to keep unemployment down. At the time that Labour took over Government in 1999, about 500 extra jobs a week were coming into the workforce, and that trend sped up over the time that Labour was in Government. But, unfortunately, the wheels got a little wobbly and things started trending down. In the 12 months to March 2010, nearly 50,000 people left the unemployment benefit and got into work. That is around half of all unemployment benefit cancellations. So things are looking good and positive.

We are not at all trying to minimise our obligations, especially towards people who find it difficult to find work, towards 18 to 24-year-olds, and towards Māori and Pacific Islanders, who, unfortunately, are within demographics that have traditionally been overrepresented in unemployment statistics. We certainly do not shirk our responsibility to work hard to give them the opportunity to get into work.

This Government has invested an extra $285 million in social development, responding to the recession. That is a significant amount of money. Some $91 million is being focused on young people, providing 12,000 Job Ops, as covered by the previous speaker, Jo Goodhew, 3,000 Community Max places, and 2,500 extra places in the Limited Service Volunteers. It has been a real joy to visit some of those Limited Service Volunteers programmes to see the work that they are doing and to see the level of work readiness that they get young people up to.

I am reminded of a young man from my electorate who appeared in court. He had been in and out of trouble for some time, and he pushed Judge Rob Murfitt pretty much to breaking point when he was about to head off to jail. His lawyer made a plea for the judge to allow him to be remanded on bail so that he could attend a Limited Service Volunteers course. Being the creative judge that he is, Judge Murfitt—unfortunately, he is soon to leave Taranaki and head back to his home stomping ground of Canterbury, which is a big loss for Taranaki—asked this guy how much he really wanted to go into the Limited Service Volunteers. The young fellow said “Heaps.” So the judge got the sergeant to drop off the young fellow outside of town at Normanby. He said: “OK, I’ll give you 45 minutes to get back to court. If you get back to court, then you can be remanded.” So the young man did exactly that. He turned up in court with his boots off and his feet looking a bit sore and tired. He was put on bail, and he was allowed to attend the Limited Service Volunteers course, which he did. He then joined the army and did his basic training. He is soon to return from his first tour of duty in Afghanistan. There is creativity within the community, and there is creativity within Government.

Vote agreed to.

Vote Social Development agreed to.

Vote Youth Development agreed to.

Vote Fisheries