Media release
21 September, 2016

Youth unemployment decreasing

Mayor Len Brown has welcomed news the number of unemployed young Aucklanders has decreased during the first six years of a united Auckland.

Speaking at Auckland’s fourth JobFest, the country’s largest event where work ready young people meet local employers looking to hire, Len Brown said the figures are much needed good news.

“Clearly there are other market factors and growth in the Auckland economy contributing to this decrease however I am confident our youth employment initiatives are making an impact and that’s heartening,” he said.

The figures, from analysis of NEET rates (not in employment, education or training) and the Household Labour Force Survey, show youth unemployment rates have almost halved, from 21.1 percent to 12.4 percent since late 2010 when the super city was established.

Since the inception of the Youth Connections programme in late 2012 the annualised NEET rate has been 10.2 percent on average. Before that it was consistently higher at 12 to 14 percent.

Youth Connections is one of several Auckland Council initiatives alongside JobFest and the Youth Employment Pledge which are supported by The Tindall Foundation.
Since January 2015 Youth Connections has helped more than 5000 young people become work ready and unlocked more than 2000 job vacancies, filling more than half of them.

Fifty-seven Auckland companies have signed up as pledge partners, committing themselves to actively employ and train more young people and more than 800 full and part time positions were on offer at today’s JobFest which attracted thousands of young job seekers and more than 80 employers with stands.

Two new initiatives were launched at today’s JobFest - #BuildAKL which aims to attract more youth into the burgeoning construction and infrastructure sector and YouthFull, an online platform where young jobseekers can learn work-readiness skills and pitch for job opportunities. Employers can engage directly with young jobseekers via the platform and support them to develop the skills necessary to fill their entry-level roles.

“Our efforts to date to tackle Auckland’s youth unemployment issues are paying off and these exciting new initiatives will ensure we continue our great progress, progress which benefits young people, the businesses that hire them and this great city,” said Len Brown.

ENDS

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