Sustainability and the case
For Youth Employment
Presentation 2002
Youth Employment Project- NZBCSD
Providing business leadership as a catalyst for
change toward sustainable development, and
promoting eco-efficiency, innovation and
responsible entrepreneurship.
Sustainable Development
Is about ensuring a better quality of life for
everyone, now and for generations to come.
What is SD?
SD is forms of progress that meet the needs of
the present without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their needs.
SD encompasses three linked elements:
• Economic/Profit
• Environmental/Planet
• Social/People
Sustainable New Zealand Scenario
ECONOMY
Knowledge-intensive
Responsive
Niche-focused
Clustered
Kiwis are confident
& entrepreneurial
Wealth is created
sustainably
ENVIRONMENT
For
Ever
Stretch goals for:
Waste reduction
Air and water quality
Energy efficiency
Biodiversity
Restoration
Everyone walks
the talk
SOCIETY
Proactive
Educated
Networked
Diverse
Caring
Our Aims
•
•
•
•
Business leadership
Demonstrate best practice
Policy development
Global outreach
Our Members
3M New Zealand Ltd
BP Oil NZ Ltd
City Care Ltd
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu
Fletcher Building Ltd
Fonterra Co-operative Group Limited
Hubbard Foods Ltd
Interface Agencies
Landcare Research
Meridian Energy
Mighty River Power Ltd
Milburn New Zealand Ltd
Minter Ellison Rudd Watts
Money Matters NZ Ltd
Morel & Co
Natural Gas Corporation
NIWA
Palliser Estate Wines of Martinborough Ltd
Port of Tauranga Ltd
PricewaterhouseCoopers
Richmond Ltd
Sanford Ltd
Shell New Zealand Ltd
Simpson Grierson
Telecom New Zealand Ltd
The Boston Consulting Group
The Living Earth Company
The Warehouse Group Ltd
Toyota NZ Ltd
Transfield Services (NZ) Limited
Transpower
Trust Power
Urgent Couriers Ltd
URS - NZ Ltd
Waimangu Volcanic Valley
Waste Management N.Z. Ltd
Watercare Services Ltd
THE REGIONAL NETWORK
- BCSDs and Partner Organizations BCSD North
Sea Region
CGLI USA/Canada
Vernadsky Foundation Russia
BCSD Poland
EPE France
BCSD Czech Republic
BCSD Mongolia
FE Spain
BCSD Austria
FFA Spain
BCSD Croatia
BCSD Latin America
BCSD Gulf of Mexico
BCSD Mexico
BCSD Honduras
BCSD El Salvador
BCSD Venezuela
BCSD Costa Rica
APEQUE
Algeria
CII India
BCSD Taiwan
BCSD Thailand
BCSD Malaysia
PBE Philippines
BCSD Colombia
BCSD Indonesia
BCSD Brazil
EFZ Zimbabwe
IEF South Africa
WASIG
BCA
W.Australia Australia
BCSD Argentina
BCSD New Zealand
Current NZBCSD Projects
• Sustainable Development Reporting
• Climate Change
• Zero Waste
• Sustainable Consumption
• Successful Schools
• Youth Employment
NZBCSD Youth Employment Project
Objective:
Lead NZ business in their role of
ensuring current employment or
training for all young New Zealanders
by 2005
Project Deliverables
The ultimate project deliverables will be:
• A concise NZ industry guide on the “why” and
“how” for stimulating youth employment
• Website area including industry guide,
reporting facility and other “learning by
sharing” tools
• Member companies commit to and report
against local employment or training targets.
Purpose of the guide
• To present the business case for addressing youth
unemployment
• To provide a set of tools to assist member
businesses to implement youth employment
initiatives
• To encourage associate businesses to adopt youth
employment strategies
• The guide will achieve its purpose by:
– educating on the issues of youth unemployment
– motivating business to accept the challenge of
youth employment
– equipping business with the necessary tools and
resources to take on the challenge.
Methodology
•
•
•
•
Establish that youth unemployment is an issue
Understand the causes of youth unemployment
Develop awareness of impact on business
Develop broad employer frameworks, policies or
commitments to guide action
• Develop detailed policies, clear objectives, strategies
and initiatives
• Promote youth employment measures to businesses.
Research
Understanding Youth Unemployment
• Desktop research
– Statistical analysis
– Literature search
• Schools Careers Advisors Survey
• School Focus Groups.
Youth Unemployment:
•
Unemployment
amongst 15 to 24year-olds was 17.6%
at 2001 census
• This figure far
exceeds the 7.5% rate
for general population
unemployment
identified in the 2001
census
• Youth unemployment
accounts for 41% of
total unemployment
Youth Unemployment
24%
15yrs to
19yrs
20yrs to
24yrs
59%
All other
ages
17%
Source Statistics NZ
• 1 in 6 young New Zealanders are unemployed.
Unemployment Rates by Ethnicity:
Qualifications:
• 10,000 young New Zealanders leave school each year with little
or no formal qualifications
• ¼ of 15 to 24-year-olds have no school qualifications.
School Leaver Qualifications by ethnic group - 1996
45
40
35
30
Asian
European
Pacific People
Maori
25
20
15
10
5
0
No Qualifications
Bursary or Scholarship
Source Statistics NZ
Where youth are employed:
25
20
Retail
Manufacturing
Service
Property
Agriculture
Construction
Wholesale
Health
15
10
5
0
% Youth Employed (sectors employing
more than 10,000 young employees)
Source Statistics NZ
Proportion of young employees in
Industry Sectors:
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
This graph displays the
percentage of the workforce
that is youth employees
(15yrs to 24yrs) in each
industry sector. The average
overall percentage of youth
employment is 15.7%.
% Youth Employed
Service 80,355
Cultural and Recreational 41,274
Miscellaneous 90,864
Construction 103,911
Manufacturing 223,809
Property and Business 194,577
Government / Defence 59,631
Electricity, Gas & Water 5,976
Education 126,540
Retail 208,317
Communication 23,151
Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing 142,758
Personal Services 64,317
Wholesale 99,444
Finance and Insurance 51,927
Transport 66,498
Health 140,568
1 Source Statistics NZ
Mining 3,354
Observations:
• Most young employees are currently employed in the
Retail and Service sectors
• Health and Education are large industry sectors with
a very small proportion of young employees
• New Zealand’s Pacific peoples population is growing
three times faster than the national average
• The median age of the Pacific Island community is
20 years compared to 32 years in the general
community
• Youth population is currently 21%
of total. This is
1
expected to drop to 15% in 2051.
Source Statistics NZ
Observations cont’d:
• Young Maori and Pacific Island people are
disproportionately
highly
represented
in
unemployment statistics
• There is strong correlation between youth
unemployment and poor school achievement
• Unemployment of parents and other family members
increases the likelihood of unemployment for a
young person
• Student debt arising from student loans for fees is
becoming an ever more significant barrier to further
training
• The state loses track of youth at risk between leaving
school (MOE) and turning 18 (WINZ).
Schools Careers Advisors Survey:
Schools Careers Advisors Survey
Observations:
• Most Students leave school with clear intentions for
the future
• Schools would like formal relationships with business
but few have them, and fewer still are doing anything
to make it happen
• Careers Advisors had a range of opinions about the
causes of youth unemployment as follows.
Causes of Youth Unemployment
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
All employers want an
‘academic’
Employer reluctance to hire
young people
Family Problems
Fewer unskilled jobs
available
Globalisation
Health and Safety Legislation
High company taxes
Lack of local jobs
Lack of motivation
·
·
·
·
·
·
Lack of Role Models
Low Skills and
Qualifications
Low youth rates (causing
employment disillusionment)
Not enough jobs
Parental Indifference
Pot Smoking
School Focus Groups
Focus Group Programme
•
Introductions
–
–
–
–
•
Name
Current Interests and Study
Current Qualifications
What employers have you had contact with?
Group Discussion
– What is important to employers in a worker?
– What do people at home think about work and training?
– Are qualifications important?
•
Individual Exercise
– What work would you like to do?
– What do you hope to be doing when you leave school?
(e.g. Training? Working? Traveling?)
– What do you hope to be doing in five years time?
•
Conclusion and Discussion
– Is working worthwhile?
– What do you think Business can do to help young people?
School Focus Groups
Observations:
• Young people want to work
• Teachers, parents and peers are the strong
influencers of beyond-school plans
• There
is
very
scant
knowledge
about
apprenticeships
• There was little resistance to the commitment
associated with apprenticeship once explained.
Business Case
Youth Employment – The Business Case
• Youth Unemployment is damaging to:
– Society
– Business
– Young people and their families.
Society
• Burden on the Welfare System
• Waste of compulsory education
investment
• Reduced potential tax take
• High rates of youth crime
• Correlation to teenage pregnancy, youth
suicide and poorer overall health.
Business
• Reduced overall consumption of goods and
services
• Youth alienation from business and commercial
goals
• Disconnection of business from its future
markets
• Ageing workforces
• Disconnection of business from modern youth
culture / lack of age balance in the workforce
• Lack of access to young talent.
Young people and their families
•
•
•
•
•
•
Failure to continue to gain skills
Low self-esteem
Depression
Family dependence and stress
Tendency to become unemployable
Drift into crime.
Youth Employment – The Business Case
•
•
•
•
•
•
New ideas / new talent
Rejuvenation of the workforce
Inspiration for older workers
Connection to community
Connection to marketplace
Investment in skills with maximum future
potential for application to business and society
• Young people want to work / young people are
hard workers prepared to put in long hours.
Possible Projects
Possible Initiatives
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Reporting against youth employment targets
Employer Mentoring
Employer representation on Boards of Trustees
School Partnerships
Sponsoring training courses and equipment
Funding training delivery
Scholarships / competitions / awards
Employer Organisations as hiring brokers
Linking with school’s careers advisory services.
‘Employment to Contracting’ proposal
Pre-Apprenticeship Work Skills Programme
Employment to Contracting
• Urgent Couriers has about 70 independent contractor
courier drivers and about 20% of the market
• Difficulty recruiting young staff. Barriers include:
– Earning capacity as a contractor. Traffic gridlock
– Entry costs of approximately $10,000
– Need to have ‘small business’ skills
• Proposal in development:
– Urgent will initially employ 5 to 6 courier employees identified from
WINZ Auckland clients for a period of 6 to 9 months
– Urgent will purchase vehicles for these employees
– Urgent will train these employees – including licensing and small
business skills – during their 6 to 9 month employment
– Urgent will save any WINZ subsidy and make this available to the
employee at the end of the period to contribute to the purchase of
the vehicle and their continued work as a courier contractor.
Pre-Apprenticeship Work Skills Programme
• City Care have WINZ buy-in to a pre-apprenticeship work
skills programme featuring:
– 20 young workers over 12 months cycling through 8 occupations
– Training to a Level 1 NZQA certificate in employment and work skills
including:
• Literacy / Numeracy, Defensive Driving, Personal Finances, Teamwork
– Partnership relationships with:
• WINZ / CITO / AWUNZ
• Targeted Outcomes:
–
–
–
–
–
–
Significant personal development of participants
All participants achieve qualification
12 start full apprenticeships with City Care
Other graduates also placed in apprenticeships
Programme continues annually with City Care
Programme adopted by other industry groups throughout NZ
Young Workers on Farms
• Fonterra looking to tackle barriers to youth employment on
farms. Fonterra have surveyed their farmers and found:
–
–
–
–
Farmers can be hard employers
Poor understanding of youth culture
Youth unaware of farming career opportunities
Patterns of time-off need addressing
• Education required both ways:
– Farmers on the needs of young people and how to be a good
employer
– Youth on the opportunities farming offers as a career and about the
skills and attitudes needed to succeed
• Fonterra’s farmers want Fonterra to intervene
• Fonterra as a company is developing strategies on youth
employment in general, and farm work in particular.
For more information visit our websites
nzbcsd.org.nz
wbcsd.org