Source: Radio New Zealand
RNZ
Young people who could have been helped into work are instead stuck “in a void” due to government policy changes, says the head of the Mayors’ Taskforce for Jobs.
It comes as StatsNZ data points to rising youth unemployment, with 14.4 percent of 15 to 24-year-olds not in education, employment or training (NEET) in the March quarter – up from 13.3 percent in December.
The Mayors’ Taskforce is a partnership between Local Government NZ and the Ministry of Social Development, helping young people find work across 36 council jurisdictions.
Its chair, Gore mayor Ben Bell, told a select committee on Wednesday it works best by supporting 16 to 18 year-olds who are “NEET” – before they’re eligible for the Jobseeker benefit.
But he said the government last year directed it to target support at jobseekers – “80 percent jobseekers, 20 percent NEETs” – which meant the younger jobless cohort fell through the cracks.
“If a young person leaves school at 16 and has no social interaction until they hit Jobseeker at 18, they are significantly harder to place than if we picked them up at 16 and then got them a job immediately,” he said.
“The 16 to 18 year-old group is the critical window of where we can take them from education, put them back into education, or into training or into employment. But if they sit in this void, that’s where it becomes really challenging.”
Bell acknowledged politicians’ arguments that those people were not costing the government anything.
“Our opinion, on the ground, is that that makes things worse in the long term, rather than the short term gain of not putting them on a welfare system,” he said.
“We honestly think that we can do the Jobseeker work and also the NEET work as well. We just need a little bit of the funding to do it … we’re investing in what works.”
Social development minister Louise Upston indicated the focus would not change.
“It doesn’t prevent them from working with 16 to 18 year olds, it’s just a proportion issue,” she said.
“I accept they want to work with a different age bracket, but we are paying welfare to Jobseeker recipients, and it’s really important that our employment initiatives that are funded by taxpayers are going to those who are already on welfare.”
The government is standing by its target of 50,000 fewer people on the Jobseeker benefit, despite the numbers heading in the wrong direction and a predicted rise in unemployment.
Bell said the programme had supported more than 1000 people in the last financial year – exceeding its target of 900 – with $8 million in government funding.
Upston said some mayors were achieving “outstanding results” and she applauded their success.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand