Releasing the chamber's quarterly business confidence survey yesterday, Mr Christie said the intentions of employers pointed clearly to them wanting to hire more skilled staff with a corresponding decline in the numbers wanting to employ unskilled staff.
Employers were either bringing in staff from overseas or implementing their own training programmes to get employees up to the level required, he said.
"We have the highest youth unemployment rate for some time but it is still hard for many young people to get jobs. There is a disconnect between skills the employers want and the skills available in the workforce looking for work.
"Getting those people trained into the areas of need is important because we need good employment levels to raise productivity. We need the right skills for the right jobs, not fill-in jobs just to give someone an income."
Many chamber members were prepared to train on the job in the belief that future growth in the economy would require more skilled workers, Mr Christie said.
Three years of training from now would see many of the gaps filled, although the main problem was retention of those workers past qualification.
Some people trained and then disappeared offshore for better opportunities or life experience when there was a desperate need to retain them.
"It's not rife out there but people are starting to talk about the frustration of retention."
There had been suggestions of bonding and other initiatives as a way of keeping newly trained workers in the region, Mr Christie said.
The rebuilding of Christchurch was seen as providing opportunities for companies associated with the trades, and those opportunities could continue for the next 10 and 20 years. Already, Otago businesses were working out how to train new staff to take advantage of those opportunities without losing market share in the region through a lack of service, he said.
"We don't want to miss those opportunities.
"We need to start training now to take advantage of the expected demand in Christchurch."
The chamber survey showed that 32.6% of respondents said the New Zealand business situation would improve during the next six months while 20.2% say it would deteriorate. However, 42.6% said conditions would remain the same.
Of their own business situation, 41.1% said conditions would remain the same, 40.3% said they would improve and 15.5% said they would deteriorate.
Mr Christie said there seemed less pessimism in the latest survey and a rush of more confidence.
The chamber surveys stretched back 15 years, with consistent questions during that time. Trends have been consistently accurate during the period.
This time, concern about high fuel prices had decreased while staff costs remained a high concern for businesses over the next six months.
The survey showed that 35.7% had given their staff wage increases of between 3% and 5% in the past 12 months, 30.2% had given increases of 1% to 2% and 22.5% had given no wage increases.
In the next 12 months, 32.6% of those surveyed were expecting to give wage increases of 3% to 5%, 39.5% expected to give 1% to 2%, and 19.4% expected to give no increase.
Mr Christie said the area of "demand" continued to be the biggest limiting factor in businesses expanding their activities.
Respondents were asked about the effect of the Rugby World Cup on their businesses, and 21.6% indicated it was having a positive effect, and 8% said it was having a negative effect.
