Targeted training a solution for long-term unemployed

MEDIA RELEASE

For immediate release

— Wellington, Friday 22 July 2011.

Targeted training a solution for long-term unemployed.

The Salvation Army is proving it is still possible to place people in danger of long-term unemployment into work, despite the drawn out hangover of the recession.

A Tertiary Education Commission report shows The Salvation Army’s employment training arm, Employment Plus, assisted 752 unemployed people into jobs or additional vocational training last year – 63 per cent of those who completed the programmes. Of the 752, 65 per cent were placed in work and 35 per cent began further training to obtain additional skills relevant to their career aims. Employment Plus has been able to maintain this success rate since the recession.

The Government funded The Salvation Army to provide 611 employment training places last year. Employment Plus used this money to train 1416 unemployed people, of which 1203 completed their programmes.

Employment Plus Chief Executive Mark Pickering says 63 per cent is a respectable achievement by any measure, but is remarkable in light of unemployment rates since the recession.

“It’s an effective and constructive use of taxpayer money, as well as giving people who are dealing with great disadvantage both a new future and a stake in their communities,” he says.

The bulk of the people Employment Plus trains are at moderate to extreme risk of long-term unemployment. Most face significant barriers that have prevented them getting work or into training places. These include inadequate diet or clothing, low levels of literacy or numeracy, dysfunctional families, health problems or addictions, and abuse or bullying.

For instance, 48 per cent of current youth trainees on Employment Plus programmes have significant problems with reading, writing, language and numeracy. Some 42 per cent experience significant health problems, 44 per cent come from unstable homes, and 28 per cent have court-related matters to resolve.

Each trainee helps design their own tailored training package, which includes support, guidance and social services, to overcome these barriers to learning.

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