Beacons of hope: New Zealand

New Zealand has a world leading approach to targeting skills to support different regions and respond to changes to the labour market.

I want to find out more about work underway in the New Zealand Government on plans announced in 2019:

• To identify workforces at risk of automation over the next 5–10 years and develop partnerships to support career transitions.
• The Just Transitions Unit and their work to explore how to mitigate potential negative impacts from New Zealand’s shift to a net zero economy.
• An effective vocational education system which enables micro-accreditation of in work learning to enable career changes.
• $1bn a year Provincial Growth Fund including a specific fund for regional employment, skills and capability Te Ara Mahi — Pathways to Work, which funds interventions such as regional sector workforce hubs.

When the training system shifted to entirely virtual learning in the COVID-19 lockdown in Spring 2020, New Zealand was one of few countries where participation rates for higher and lower skilled learners remained similar due to outreach and the lower ICT requirements of the training offer.

I’m particularly interested in case studies in rural and town communities, and understand why New Zealand has been more successful in enabling all communities to adapt to changes in the labour market whilst retaining local identity, expertise and heritage, such as that of Kaikohe in the Far North.

Kaikohe is a former industrial town where economic decline in the 80s resulted in closure of local mills and factories, culminating in the closure of the airport and decline of the surrounding hub. The level of skills and employment in the community fell, investment in digital and public services fell resulting in limited internet access and high crime. Provincial growth funding catalysed industry based training, horticulture and viticulture, to provide skills training based on local employers needs, to provide youth support through restoration of Mangatoa Forest, and provide training and work placements for high skills jobs in the viticulture.

What do you think about skills and employment in rural and town communities in New Zealand?

What other programmes and places should I include in my research?