Paula Bennett

13 June, 2013

Employment opportunities coming up

Social Development Minister Paula Bennett is pleased to see a number of good work opportunities around New Zealand as businesses expand.

“We’re seeing some positive economic indicators, with business confidence growing and it’s translating to jobs which those on benefits can take up,” says Mrs Bennett.

NZ Bus Limited is recruiting up to 120 new staff in the next six months.

Vodafone is currently recruiting call centre staff in Auckland. Working in partnership with Vodafone, Work and Income is contributing to the pipeline of talent the organisation needs by referring people currently on benefit.

Work and Income is working with several other employers to fill positions coming up, including 40 positions with Burger King in Mangere, and in the Waikato region, 40 staff for Wendy’s and 25 staff for Valentines.

A new pharmaceutical plant being built in Feilding requires 30 new staff when the store opens in 18 months and a new K-Mart store in Nelson is recruiting 80-100 full time, part time and casual positions.

“And we’re creating jobs within the Ministry of Social Development by recruiting 140 extra people to process payments and make outbound calls, largely based in Auckland,” says Mrs Bennett.

“We’re also keeping our focus on young people with 7,000 assisted into jobs with Job Streams work subsidies since July 2012.”

“There are many outstanding employers who are willing to provide opportunities to our young people, Scopa restaurant in Wellington is an example of this.”

Scopa and Work and Income are developing rotational internships to introduce more youth to the industry. The initiative will be trialled in late June and will provide five young people with an opportunity for full time work.

There are currently 14,403 young people on benefit, down from 23,545 at the peak in January 2010.

The $62 million Job Streams package includes the Flexi-Wage and Skills for Industry subsidies, which work much like paid apprenticeships.

ENDS

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