Sustainability and the case

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Sustainability and the case For Youth
Employment Presentation 2002
Youth Employment Project- NZBCSD
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Providing business leadership as a catalyst for
change toward sustainable development, and
promoting eco-efficiency, innovation and
responsible entrepreneurship.
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Sustainable Development Is about ensuring a
better quality of life for everyone, now and for
generations to come.

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• What is SD?
• SD is forms of progress that meet the needs of
  the present without compromising the ability of
  future generations to meet their needs.

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• SD encompasses three linked elements
• Economic/Profit
• Environmental/Planet
• Social/People

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Sustainable New Zealand Scenario
ECONOMY
Knowledge-intensive Responsive Niche-focused Clust
ered
Kiwis are confident entrepreneurial
Wealth is created sustainably
SOCIETY
ENVIRONMENT
Proactive Educated Networked Diverse Caring
Stretch goals for Waste reduction Air and water
quality Energy efficiency Biodiversity Restoration
Everyone walks the talk
Leadership Strategic Framework Goals
Indicators Metrics
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Our Aims

• Business leadership
• Demonstrate best practice
• Policy development
• Global outreach

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Our Members

• 3M New Zealand Ltd
• BP Oil NZ Ltd
• City Care Ltd
• Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu
• Fletcher Building Ltd
• Fonterra Co-operative Group Limited
• Hubbard Foods Ltd
• Interface Agencies
• Landcare Research
• Meridian Energy
• Mighty River Power Ltd
• Milburn New Zealand Ltd
• Minter Ellison Rudd Watts
• Money Matters NZ Ltd
• Morel Co
• Natural Gas Corporation
• NIWA
• Palliser Estate Wines of Martinborough Ltd
• Port of Tauranga Ltd

• PricewaterhouseCoopers
• Richmond Ltd
• Sanford Ltd
• Shell New Zealand Ltd
• Simpson Grierson
• Telecom New Zealand Ltd
• The Boston Consulting Group
• The Living Earth Company
• The Warehouse Group Ltd
• Toyota NZ Ltd
• Transfield Services (NZ) Limited
• Transpower
• Trust Power
• Urgent Couriers Ltd
• URS - NZ Ltd
• Waimangu Volcanic Valley
• Waste Management N.Z. Ltd
• Watercare Services Ltd

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THE REGIONAL NETWORK - BCSDs and Partner
Organizations -
BCSD North Sea Region
Vernadsky Foundation Russia
BCSD Poland
EPE France
CGLI USA/Canada
BCSD Czech Republic
BCSD Mongolia
FE Spain
BCSD Austria
BCSD Croatia
FFA Spain
BCSD Latin America
CII India
BCSD Gulf of Mexico
APEQUE Algeria
BCSD Mexico
BCSD Taiwan
BCSD Honduras
BCSD Thailand
BCSD El Salvador
PBE Philippines
BCSD Venezuela
BCSD Malaysia
BCSD Costa Rica
BCSD Colombia
BCSD Indonesia
BCSD Brazil
EFZ Zimbabwe
WASIG W.Australia
BCA Australia
IEF South Africa
BCSD Argentina
BCSD New Zealand
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Current NZBCSD Projects

• Sustainable Development Reporting
• Climate Change
• Zero Waste
• Sustainable Consumption
• Successful Schools
• Youth Employment

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NZBCSD Youth Employment Project
Objective

• Lead NZ business in their role of ensuring
  current employment or training for all young New
  Zealanders by 2005

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Project Deliverables

• The ultimate project deliverables will be
• A concise NZ industry guide on the why and
  how for stimulating youth employment
• Website area including industry guide, reporting
  facility and other learning by sharing tools
• Member companies commit to and report against
  local employment or training targets.

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Purpose of the guide

• To present the business case for addressing youth
  unemployment
• To provide a set of tools to assist member
  businesses to implement youth employment
  initiatives
• To encourage associate businesses to adopt youth
  employment strategies
• The guide will achieve its purpose by
• educating on the issues of youth unemployment
• motivating business to accept the challenge of
  youth employment
• equipping business with the necessary tools and
  resources to take on the challenge.

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Methodology

• Establish that youth unemployment is an issue
• Understand the causes of youth unemployment
• Develop awareness of impact on business
• Develop broad employer frameworks, policies or
  commitments to guide action
• Develop detailed policies, clear objectives,
  strategies and initiatives
• Promote youth employment measures to businesses.

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Research
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Understanding Youth Unemployment

• Desktop research
• Statistical analysis
• Literature search
• Schools Careers Advisors Survey
• School Focus Groups.

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Youth Unemployment

• Unemployment amongst 15 to 24-year-olds was
  17.6 at 2001 census
• This figure far exceeds the 7.5 rate for
  general population unemployment identified in the
  2001 census
• Youth unemployment accounts for 41 of total
  unemployment

Source Statistics NZ

• 1 in 6 young New Zealanders are unemployed.

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Unemployment Rates by Ethnicity
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Qualifications

• 10,000 young New Zealanders leave school each
  year with little or no formal qualifications
• ¼ of 15 to 24-year-olds have no school
  qualifications.
• School Leaver Qualifications by ethnic group -
  1996

Source Statistics NZ
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Where youth are employed
Source Statistics NZ
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Proportion of young employees in Industry
Sectors
This graph displays the percentage of the
workforce that is youth employees (15yrs to
24yrs) in each industry sector. The average
overall percentage of youth employment is 15.7.
1 Source Statistics NZ
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Observations

• Most young employees are currently employed in
  the Retail and Service sectors
• Health and Education are large industry sectors
  with a very small proportion of young employees
• New Zealands Pacific peoples population is
  growing three times faster than the national
  average
• The median age of the Pacific Island community is
  20 years compared to 32 years in the general
  community
• Youth population is currently 21 of total. This
  is expected to drop to 15 in 2051.1

Source Statistics NZ
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Observations contd

• Young Maori and Pacific Island people are
  disproportionately highly represented in
  unemployment statistics
• There is strong correlation between youth
  unemployment and poor school achievement
• Unemployment of parents and other family members
  increases the likelihood of unemployment for a
  young person
• Student debt arising from student loans for fees
  is becoming an ever more significant barrier to
  further training
• The state loses track of youth at risk between
  leaving school (MOE) and turning 18 (WINZ).

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Schools Careers Advisors Survey
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Schools Careers Advisors SurveyObservations

• Most Students leave school with clear intentions
  for the future
• Schools would like formal relationships with
  business but few have them, and fewer still are
  doing anything to make it happen
• Careers Advisors had a range of opinions about
  the causes of youth unemployment as follows.

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Causes of Youth Unemployment

• All employers want an academic
•       Employer reluctance to hire young people
•       Family Problems
•       Fewer unskilled jobs available
•       Globalisation
•       Health and Safety Legislation
•       High company taxes
•       Lack of local jobs
•       Lack of motivation 

•      Lack of Role Models
•       Low Skills and Qualifications
•       Low youth rates (causing employment
  disillusionment)
•    Not enough jobs
•       Parental Indifference
•       Pot Smoking

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School Focus Groups
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School Focus GroupsObservations

• Young people want to work
• Teachers, parents and peers are the strong
  influencers of beyond-school plans
• There is very scant knowledge about
  apprenticeships
• There was little resistance to the commitment
  associated with apprenticeship once explained.

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Business Case
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Youth Employment The Business Case

• Youth Unemployment is damaging to
• Society
• Business
• Young people and their families.

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Society

• Burden on the Welfare System
• Waste of compulsory education investment
• Reduced potential tax take
• High rates of youth crime
• Correlation to teenage pregnancy, youth suicide
  and poorer overall health.

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Business

• Reduced overall consumption of goods and services
• Youth alienation from business and commercial
  goals
• Disconnection of business from its future markets
• Ageing workforces
• Disconnection of business from modern youth
  culture / lack of age balance in the workforce
• Lack of access to young talent.

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Young people and their families

• Failure to continue to gain skills
• Low self-esteem
• Depression
• Family dependence and stress
• Tendency to become unemployable
• Drift into crime.

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Youth Employment The Business Case

• New ideas / new talent
• Rejuvenation of the workforce
• Inspiration for older workers
• Connection to community
• Connection to marketplace
• Investment in skills with maximum future
  potential for application to business and society
• Young people want to work / young people are hard
  workers prepared to put in long hours.

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Possible Projects
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Possible Initiatives

• Reporting against youth employment targets
• Employer Mentoring
• Employer representation on Boards of Trustees
• School Partnerships
• Sponsoring training courses and equipment
• Funding training delivery
• Scholarships / competitions / awards
• Employer Organisations as hiring brokers
• Linking with schools careers advisory services.
• Employment to Contracting proposal
• Pre-Apprenticeship Work Skills Programme

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Employment to Contracting

• Urgent Couriers has about 70 independent
  contractor courier drivers and about 20 of the
  market
• Difficulty recruiting young staff. Barriers
  include
• Earning capacity as a contractor. Traffic
  gridlock
• Entry costs of approximately 10,000
• Need to have small business skills
• Proposal in development
• Urgent will initially employ 5 to 6 courier
  employees identified from WINZ Auckland clients
  for a period of 6 to 9 months
• Urgent will purchase vehicles for these employees
• Urgent will train these employees including
  licensing and small business skills during
  their 6 to 9 month employment
• Urgent will save any WINZ subsidy and make this
  available to the employee at the end of the
  period to contribute to the purchase of the
  vehicle and their continued work as a courier
  contractor.

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Pre-Apprenticeship Work Skills Programme

• City Care have WINZ buy-in to a
  pre-apprenticeship work skills programme
  featuring
• 20 young workers over 12 months cycling through 8
  occupations
• Training to a Level 1 NZQA certificate in
  employment and work skills including
• Literacy / Numeracy, Defensive Driving, Personal
  Finances, Teamwork
• Partnership relationships with
• WINZ / CITO / AWUNZ
• Targeted Outcomes
• Significant personal development of participants
• All participants achieve qualification
• 12 start full apprenticeships with City Care
• Other graduates also placed in apprenticeships
• Programme continues annually with City Care
• Programme adopted by other industry groups
  throughout NZ

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Young Workers on Farms

• Fonterra looking to tackle barriers to youth
  employment on farms. Fonterra have surveyed
  their farmers and found
• Farmers can be hard employers
• Poor understanding of youth culture
• Youth unaware of farming career opportunities
• Patterns of time-off need addressing
• Education required both ways
• Farmers on the needs of young people and how to
  be a good employer
• Youth on the opportunities farming offers as a
  career and about the skills and attitudes needed
  to succeed
• Fonterras farmers want Fonterra to intervene
• Fonterra as a company is developing strategies on
  youth employment in general, and farm work in
  particular.

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For more information visit our websites
nzbcsd.org.nz
wbcsd.org