With the release of NCEA results yesterday, another set of dreams and aspirations have been unleashed from that most precious of resources: our youth. As the exam results are considered, those young people will be thinking of where their future careers can and will take them.
A debate has broken out over the needs of New Zealand's young people and whether their needs in education and training is adequate to provide them with the skills needed to fill the job market.
Reports published in this newspaper suggest the Government is not listening to the hospitality industry - as one example - when it comes to the essential skills used by employers when seeking staff to fill vacancies that cannot be adequately filled domestically.
The category covering restaurant and cafe managers looks likely to be chopped from the essential skills list, and there appears to be a need for training not only to cook in a restaurant, but also to be taught how to manage one. Yet, as consumers, we constantly demand a high standard of service and are among the first to complain if service is not up to standard. With Prime Minister John Key promoting tourism through his portfolio of Tourism Minister, service plays an important part in providing the overall experience of satisfaction we desire for our visitors.
At this time of the year, people of all ages start thinking about a career change. Careers New Zealand reports that the jobs of registered nurse, psychologist, primary school teacher, civil engineer and early childhood teacher are the most researched on its website. Careers NZ acting chief executive Jay Lamburn says the message about a shortages of workers in the health sector is clearly getting out to job seekers. Similarly, there is a paucity of engineers. But while those messages may be getting out, there seems to be a disconnect between the education system and the jobs market.
The problem is not new. When New Zealand was losing skilled tradespeople in the late 1980s and early 1990s, schools were teaching IT and cooking. Builders, for instance, were moving to Australia to find work after being made redundant. In the case of Otago, tradespeople here were moving north to fill jobs left by their northern counterparts moving to Australia. When the situation reversed, New Zealand was short of skilled workers and immigrants were brought in to fill the void.
Now, Canterbury is importing tradespeople from overseas because there is likely to be not enough skilled labour to push along earthquake rebuild efforts.
Household Labour Force Survey figures will in four weeks be released for the three months ended December. The September figures did not make for comforting reading. Then, the total youth NEET (not in employment, education or training) levels remained flat at 13.4%. The category, introduced in December 2011, covers those aged between 15 and 24 and is measured as a proportion of the total youth working-age population.
Of course, youth unemployment is not a problem unique to New Zealand. Reports late last year provided bleak pictures for youth unemployment in European nations. As a whole, youth unemployment rose to 22.8% in September from 21.7% in the previous year. In Greece and Spain, that proportion was more than 50%. And in the United States, the unemployment among people under 25 was 16%.
Figures, whether in New Zealand or overseas, only tell part of the story. They do not include the many young people not in the labour market because they are continuing with their education, or who are engaged in training programmes - some of which never lead to jobs. If you take those young people into account, a far more serious picture emerges.
Steven Joyce has become one of the most powerful politicians in the Key-led Government, holding the Economic Development, Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment and Science and Innovation portfolios. As Associate Finance Minister, he also helps oversee the Budget. Those roles combined have the power of good at their disposal. This year, they must not be wasted. The future of another generation is at stake.
