Preparing all Young People for Satisfying and Rewarding Working Lives
- Emma Anderson
Long-term Insights Briefings are future-focused documents that provide information about medium and long-term trends, risks and opportunities that may affect New Zealand. This Long-term Insights Briefing has been prepared by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Social Development, and the Ministry for Women.
PREPARING ALL YOUNG PEOPLE FOR SATISFYING AND REWARDING WORKING LIVES IS A LONG-TERM CHALLENGE
Although many young people successfully navigate transitions from school to work, further education or training, a significant proportion of young people experience persistent barriers which prevent them from reaching their employment goals and aspirations. This is a longstanding and multi-faceted policy challenge with intergenerational consequences. Most young people are not in education, employment or training (NEET) at some stage from ages 15 to 24. Short-term NEET is not usually a problem if young people shift quickly between jobs, or between work and study to pursue new opportunities. However, some young people experience very high levels of limited employment, characterised by:
- long or frequent periods of benefit dependency, unemployment, or under-employment
- being trapped in low wage, low skill, or insecure work, and/or
- continual enrolment in low-level foundation tertiary education.
This briefing identifies opportunities to improve education and employment system responses to support better employment outcomes for all young people in the medium- and long-term. There are opportunities for government to better meet its Te Tiriti o Waitangi responsibilities and to future-proof our education and employment system to address future demographic and labour market trends. The briefing has a particular focus on actions that require co-ordinated responses from education and employment agencies, rather than single agency responses. It also recognises that not all barriers to sustainable employment can be addressed by education and employment agencies alone. Wider government and community efforts to support vulnerable families with children, promote inclusion and address poverty, family violence, housing security, mental health all play a key role in enabling young people to reach their potential.