The Star: October 22, 2020

The Star Thursday October 22 2020
24
OPINION
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
Action and Opportunities in
Skills and Employment
By Karen Haigh
As COVID causes economic
disruption worldwide, one of the
most significant impacts is on
people’s jobs.
Many of us have had our
livelihoods affected in some way
by COVID - some by
redundancy, some by a reduction
in hours, or even by a reduction
in remuneration.
It’s clear our school leavers and
graduates will face a very
different outlook when they
finish their qualifications at the
end of the year.
As the city’s sustainable economic
development agency,
ChristchurchNZ is working
towards socio-economic
recovery and supporting our
workforce is a key piece of that
vital work.
ChristchurchNZ is helping identify opportunities for people to reskill and move into other sectors
So, what’s the situation?
Canterbury has seen a 63%
increase in job seekers since the
beginning of the year, with the
regional unemployment rate
rising to 5.1% from 3.2% in
January of this year. The average
number of hours worked is down
10% from a year ago.
As well as impacting around
9,000 jobs, this tighter job market
has a knock-on impact on other
areas including those about to
join the workforce. We will have
over 7,000 school leavers and
almost 10,000 tertiary graduates
in the region facing an uncertain
future come the end of the year.
Higher unemployment impacts
more significantly on those in
lower skilled roles and our
vulnerable populations – Māori;
Pasifika; young people not in
employment, education or
training; and our long-term
unemployed.
And what are we doing?
We are supporting the journey
for labour market priority groups
– school leavers, tertiary
graduates, NEET (young people
not in employment, education or
training), impacted workers,
Māori and industry.
To ensure work isn’t duplicated,
and to identify gaps, we are
mapping the support available
from iwi, central and local
government agencies, our
education providers, charitable
trusts, and other support groups.
Impact projects can then be
delivered to provide support
where needed.
It is critical we ensure our
community has access to the
information they need, and is
aware of the help available.
ChristchurchNZ is developing
regional information resources
and working to ensure this gets
into the hands of those who
need it.
We are also developing a
Regional Workforce Plan that
identifies the skills available and
needed now and in the future.
This plan will inform central
government investment and
policy in education, immigration
and community interventions;
and will enable us to better
understand what skills
Christchurch’s future economy
will require. That in turn will
allow us to work with education
providers to ensure the right
courses are offered.
In times of recession we generally
see an increase in people
choosing to study.
This is an opportunity to upskill
Canterbury’s relatively
poorly-educated workforce for
our future economy, to generate
more and better jobs, to increase
productivity, and to raise living
standards and wellbeing.
We are supporting Ngāi Tahu’s
development of an iwi skills hub
that will create stronger pathways
for young Māori into tertiary
education and skilled jobs.
high-growth areas. We are also
seeking to future-proof
Canterbury’s labour market
- we know how vital it is to create
new jobs to ensure people have
employment options now and
in the longer term.
We have invested in a city-wide
innovation and entrepreurship
ecosystem partnership to support
high-growth potential businesses
and future job creation in areas
of regional strength and global
growth opportunity. These
Supernodes are Aerospace and
Future Transport; Food, Fibre
and Agritech; Health Tech and
Resilient Communities; and
High-Tech Services.
Our business attraction team is
working to attract additional
businesses and jobs to the region.
While we expect ongoing
economic disruption, there
are many green shoots and
opportunities – one of which is
to develop a workforce that is
highly skilled and can support a
thriving and globally competitive
future economy.
Healthtech is a flourishing sector in Canterbury
Among other projects, we are
working with education partners
and mana whenua to increase
aspiration and participation of
students in low-decile schools in
future-focused tertiary study that
will lead to careers in
Karen Haigh is a Talent
Specialist for Innovation
and Business Growth at
ChristchurchNZ