Mayors Taskforce for Jobs

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Mayors Taskforce for Jobs
Nelson Forum Update from the Working Group
Professor Ian Shirley
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Introduction
Several themes emerge from the profile of a
senior citizen relevance to this update for the
Mayors Taskforce

• Conditions that gave rise to the establishment
  of the Taskforce

• Changing regional, national and international
  environments in which
• we live and work

• The myths that continue to shape policy options
  for local and regional
• government

The 30 year life
LIFE
Old Age Redundancy
Youth Ghetto
Death
Birth
Continuum
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The 30 year life is a conceptual model which
captures the outcome of three significant trends,
namely
? changing profile of the New Zealand
population ? changing dynamics of the labour
market ? changing policy priorities and
practices
These trends explain why the Mayors Taskforce was
established and why the focus has been
concentrated predominantly on youth unemployment
and the job guarantee
Changing population trends and projections
? the enduring mythology of an ageing
population in reality a youthful
population and this is reinforced when you
examine dependency ratios ? internal and
external migration urbanisation and rural
depopulation ? family and household formation
and the supply and demand of goods
and services home ownership, capital assets
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The Changing Dynamics of the Labour Market
? Major shifts occurred through the 1980s and
early 1990s ? Unemployment was treated as an
adjustment problem ? Short-term solutions
employed to provide welfare for the unemployed ?
National databases failed to capture what was
happening especially at the interface between
households and firms ? Macro-policy settings and
practices failed the regions and they failed
local and regional government ? Focus on big
business and short-term profitability rather than
small business which provides the bulk of
employment opportunities
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Changing policy priorities and practices
Changes occurred over a period of two decades
represented a major transition from the command
economy ? economic vulnerability ? economic
rationalisation
There were a number of benefits that came from
these radical shifts in policy but there were
also major deficits ? the productive sectors of
the economy were undermined ? structural
unemployment increased dramatically long-term
unemployment work-rich and work-poor
households ? New Zealand incurred a substantial
social deficit deprivation communities of
choice and communities of fate ? reversed the
distinctive policy arrangements and priorities
which made New Zealand one of the most successful
countries in the OECD
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The mythology of the welfare state

• ? based on a concept of social security that
  characterised European countries but which was
  never the focus of economic and social policy in
  New Zealand
• ? industrial conciliation and arbitration (1894)
  a wage sufficient to provide for a household
  with two or three children
• ? family wage extended during the 1930s to
  include access to education and health services
  and the provision of state housing a very
  selective benefit system for those outside the
  labour market
• ? full employment for men as a means of securing
  household income
• ? A set of arrangements based around full
  employment and a fair wage which led to New
  Zealands reputation as a social laboratory for
  the world

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• ? the Mayors Taskforce for Jobs was established
  to address long-term unemployment across cities,
  districts and regions of New Zealand
• ? The escalation in long-term unemployment and
  the failure of both central government and the
  wider community to address the waste of human
  resources evident over two decades led to a group
  of Mayors identifying and accepting a leadership
  role in employment
• ? In particular the focus has been on what is
  described as a youth guarantee that all young
  people under 25 years of age be in paid work, in
  training or education, or in useful activities in
  the community
• ? The focus on the youth job guarantee is one of
  the central issues that our working group has
  been asked to consider on behalf of the Mayors
  Taskforce
• The proposition emerges from national employment
  plans in Europe and was first raised with the
  Mayors Taskforce in 2001
• It has also been the subject of a major research
  programme in Australia led by Professor Bill
  Mitchell at the University of Newcastle

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The Working Group has focussed on the following
tasks

• an examination of the youth job guarantee as
  implemented in other countries with a view to
  exploring its feasibility in New Zealand
• A summary of the changing dynamics of the labour
  market with some emphasis on the skills deficit
  which has emerged as a major problem today
• A review of transition projects for youth with
  emphasis on the interface between education and
  paid employment
• A reassessment of regional and national
  initiatives aimed at promoting employment
  opportunities and economic participation

The working group will finish its task early in
2006 with the intention of informing the schedule
of work and priorities of the Mayors Taskforce