The Otago Regional Skills Leadership Group will lead a feasibility analysis for a potential regional solution to mitigate skills shortages.
The region’s first regional workforce plan, launched yesterday, emphasised the need for more collaboration within Otago and across the labour market to counter factors such as skills shortages and unclear pathways.
The plan said the skills shortage solution could leverage seasonality, explore labour sharing options and potentially address underemployment.
That response might lead to the formation of a separate entity that mitigated risk for employers and employees, or a platform that linked up existing activity.
It could also "act as a conduit for regional connectivity". The group’s engagement suggested there was wide-ranging enthusiasm for the project.
The Otago group — one of 15 regional skills leadership groups established by the Government to lead labour market planning in the regions — is an independent advisory team of regional leaders charged with identifying and supporting better ways of meeting skills and workforce needs.
Co-chairwoman Karen Coutts said the group viewed the plan as a "call for co-ordination" as Otago emerged from Covid-19.
"It is a wero [challenge] to strategise for the future and a mechanism to stimulate discussion, co-ordination and action towards meeting the emerging skills and workforce needs of our region.
"It will inform how we tackle some of the issues, challenges and opportunities we face, as well as elaborate on our vision for the future of Otago’s workforce," she said in a statement.
The group developed the plan through a process combining regional analysis and stakeholder and partner input.
Co-chairwoman Laura Black said more than 120 regional stakeholders and partners were engaged with.
The plan highlighted analysis of the food and fibre, accommodation and food services, healthcare and social assistance and construction sectors.
While those were the initial focus sectors, the group would undertake a review of other key sectors and demographics in the Otago labour market in the future.
It also aimed to develop a better understanding of Maori labour market participation across the region, which would then be the basis of commentary on Otago’s Maori economy in future regional workforce plans.
The plan showed Otago faced a significant skill shortage across all focus sectors, the region’s ageing population being a significant contributing factor.
That was a trend being experienced across much of New Zealand and meant competing with other regions or sectors for workforce was likely to be a costly, zero-sum activity.
While the region had previously relied on immigration to fill seasonal shortages, the "immigration rebalance" meant policy settings for employing migrant labour were less permissive than previously.
Innovative solutions and gains in regional productivity could be employed to combat skill shortages, the plan said.
