Not Just About Neets
- Emma Anderson
OVERVIEW
In late 2018, the Ministry of Education, with the support of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, commissioned an evidence review to determine how to improve interventions for young people who are likely to experience poorer than average employment over their life time. The resulting report proposes a broader definition of limited employment. It investigates what is known about young people in limited employment, and interventions that may improve employment, immediately and later in life.
REFRAMING THE POLICY PROBLEM
Current policy discussions focus on young people who are not in employment, education or training (NEET) . A limitation of the NEET measure is that it captures many young people who are relatively less at risk of long-run limited employment. Most New Zealand young people are NEET at some stage from ages 15 to 24. The NEET measure also misses young people who are moving between low paid and/or short-term jobs and/or low level tertiary education.
The evidence review proposes a broader definition of limited employment. This definition includes those who are in minimum wage employment and/or underemployed for long or frequent periods. It aims to capture young people who are likely to be in limited or no employment over much of their life time.
FACTORS INFLUENCING EMPLOYABILITY
Many different factors contribute to a person’s employability. The report categorises these factors into:
• personal factors – describing the individual or their situation
• network factors – describing relationships, experience and
intergenerational issues
• labour market factors – describing supply and demand, and competition
for jobs
Two factors stand out as key to why some young people experience limited employment over longer periods of time:
• Non-cognitive skills (also known as soft skills) are important for employment and education outcomes and are highly valued by employers. These skills can be influenced during childhood and adolescence.
• Work experience is a key way to change people’s employment capability and motivations. Lack of work experience is a major barrier for young people who leave school with low or no qualifications.
These two factors are closely tied to how well young people can signal their suitability for jobs to employers.
Characteristics overlap and compound
Young people with the poorest long-term employment outcomes have additional risk factors, including:
• experiencing intergenerational benefit dependency
• contact with Child, Youth and Family (CYF)/Oranga Tamariki and/or with
the justice system
• being a young parent (particularly before age 19)
• leaving school with no or low qualifications.
Young people most at risk of limited employment cannot be easily sorted into discrete subgroups. There are many overlapping groups and young people may only be part of a subgroup for a short point in time. Needs and employment barriers are often multiple. Much of what distinguishes young people who are most likely to end up with limited employment outcomes in adulthood, compared to their peers, is intergenerational in naturE.