Mayor’s Taskforce for Jobs
Mayors Taskforce for Jobs origins are back to the year 2000, when a group of 7 Mayors from around New Zealand gathered in Christchurch, one of those 7 was our own Hurunui Mayor the late John Chaffey. This group acknowledged that communities led by their Mayor’s could play a crucial role in fostering employment opportunities for their youth.
MTFJ has now grown to a network of New Zealand Mayors with a core group now holding quarterly meeting in Wellington with Ministers and Officials from government departments who hold responsibilities for the over all vision and directional leadership and strategic focus for the programme. I have been appointed to this core group with my first meeting in Wellington to be held on the 31st March. I am looking forward to contributing to the outcomes for rural youth who often face more challenges when entering the work force, including the right training, driver licensing, and lack of access to employers and support services.
Having introduced the programme over the past 3 years to the district it is pleasing to report that over 100 young people have been supported into sustainable employment, this occurs because we have strong relationships with many employers who are engaged with the programme, with an equally strong relationship with the Ministry of Social Development. Brad Olsen visited the Hurunui last week, and informed the community that we need to get the balance of bringing young people into the workforce, if your business is keen to learn more and participate, I would encourage you to contact either Prudence Roberts or Chris King at the Hurunui District Council.
Brad signalled his endorsement for the value of the programme with his simple message that supported and enabled young people to enter the work force with all the skills and attributes required. Brad is the Chief Executive and principal economist at Infometrics who has the ability to communicate complex and detailed trends in a simple, relatable and useful manner.
His simple message to get through the tough economic future is to prioritize and consolidate spending for the year ahead, the economy is like a pot of boiling water in times of tension it needs to continue to bubble away before it can get back to a full rolling boil. We are in that tension at present.