MEDIA RELEASE

3 May 2017

JobFest opens today with a focus on young Māori and Pacific Island Aucklanders

RELEASE SUMMARY

• Around 2,000 young Aucklanders (15-24 years) are expected at JobFest today at the Manukau Vodafone Events Centre with a record 1,250 jobs on offer.

• This is the fifth JobFest, New Zealand’s largest youth employment event, with this latest event having a particular focus on South Auckland and Māori and Pacific Island youth.

• Seventy five businesses will be exhibiting at JobFest including sectors which face a critical skills shortage such as construction and infrastructure, ICT, and hospitality and tourism.

A record 1,250 jobs are available for young Aucklanders at today’s JobFest event (Wednesday 3 May) – New Zealand’s largest youth employment event – which has a particular focus on young Māori and Pacific Island jobseekers.

Around 75 businesses are attending JobFest at the Manukau Vodafone Events, spanning industries including construction and infrastructure, fashion, tourism and hospitality, and food and beverage.

While the number of young Aucklanders (15-24 years) not in employment, education or training (NEET) has remained relatively static over the past four years, in the year ending December 2016, 26,800 young people remain in this category including a significantly higher proportion of Māori and Pacific Island youth.

JobFest is delivered by Auckland Council’s Youth Connections initiative, in partnership with Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development (ATEED) and The Tindall Foundation.

Auckland’s Deputy Mayor Bill Cashmore says today’s JobFest is about bridging the gap between young jobseekers and employers and helping young people get ‘work-ready’ so that they are more familiar with the workplace culture.

“South Auckland has a significantly higher proportion of young people not in employment, education or training than the rest of Auckland, as is the number of young Māori and Pacific Islanders, so we are supporting the local community by holding JobFest in Manukau,” he says.

“Today marks Auckland’s fifth JobFest, and of the 6,000 young people who have attended the previous events, around 420 gained employment - so JobFest, working alongside other youth employment initiatives, is making a difference,“ Deputy Mayor Cashmore says.

JobFest creates an ideal atmosphere for young jobseekers and employers to meet. The event gives businesses access to more of Auckland’s young talent, and helps young people into work and career pathways.

Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development general manager Business Innovation and Skills, Patrick McVeigh says JobFest is also working to help ease a critical skills shortage in a number of sectors such as construction and infrastructure, ICT, and hospitality and tourism.

“All businesses exhibiting at JobFest are showing their commitment to the future generation of our workforce by proactively working to bring fresh, young talent into their businesses, and nurturing young people so they can forge careers,” he says.

One young jobseeker who secured employment after attending JobFest last September is aspiring chef 22 year-old Rosa Vaili from Otara.

Rosa secured a job as a kitchen hand at Sudima Auckland Airport where her passion for working in the kitchen has motived other chefs to provide training when she has finished her kitchen hand tasks.

Careers NZ has funded a short film called ‘Growing Pains’ to encourage Māori to reflect on their upbringing and the influence grandparents have on children. The narrative follows a young boy learning the teachings of his grandfather to help prepare him for the future and obtaining a job.

NOTES:

• Growing Pains video:

o Full version https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3qywBe6N40

o 30 second version https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8httMnYI6o

• JobFest supports initiatives to help young people get ‘work-ready’ by using the online platform Youthfull which offers young jobseekers practical courses designed with employers to get the skills they need to access real entry-level jobs.

• For the year ending December 2016, the number of young Aucklanders aged between 15-24 years who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) was 26,800.

• This represents 10.8% of all Auckland 15-24 year olds – and is on par with the same period the previous year (for the year ending December 2015).

• In the past four years, the NEET rate has been falling slightly, but despite this fall - the number of Maori and Pacific Island young people who are not in employment, education or training remains high.

• Maori represent 21% of total NEETs with 5,628 young Maori aged 15-24 years not in employment, education or training. Pacific Island youth represent 17.2% of total NEETS with 4,609 not in employment, education or training.

• These rates are significantly higher than for other ethnicities such as European (7.7%) and Asian (10.1%).

• South Auckland has a significantly higher rate of young people who are not in employment education or training (NEET) – with this group representing 15.8% of total NEETs in Auckland.

• Of the 1250 jobs on offer across a diverse range of sectors 833 are full time and 417 are part-time

• The industry-led BuildAKL campaign to get more young people into construction and infrastructure sector has 300 entry-level vacancies on offer at JobFest

• Youth Connections has unlocked almost 2,250 jobs and filled 1,264 employment positions across a range of sectors since the programme began in 2012.

• ATEED has launched a CBD Jobs and Skills Hub in Wynyard Quarter in collaboration with central government, training agencies and employers. The Hub, which opened in February this year connects jobseekers with central city employers, primarily in the construction industry, and helps employers by linking their current workforce with training skills.

• For further information visit http://jobfest.co.nz/

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