A call for collaboration was the key message to come from the launch of the inaugural Otago Regional Workforce Plan yesterday in Queenstown.
Minister for Social Development and Employment Carmel Sepuloni was present alongside Otago Regional Skills Leadership Group (RSLG) co-chairwomen Karen Coutts and Laura Black to introduce the plan, which initially focuses on four key sectors of Otago’s workforce.
"Workforce planning focuses on getting the balance right between the skills employers need and the skills available within the workforce, now and in the future," Ms Sepuloni said in a speech.
The plan, developed by the Otago RSLG, looks to address regional challenges such as skill shortages and unclear career pathways long term — initially focused on construction, accommodation and food services, healthcare and social assistance, and food and fibre — with plans to expand focus as the work progresses.
To address short-term labour market challenges in Otago, the plan looks to implement collaboration between small and medium-sized enterprises and economic development agencies to provide support outside of their business.
"We're talking about things like pastoral care, we're talking about recruitment, we're talking about accommodation solutions ... some businesses can support that internally, but a lot of them can't," Ms Black said.
"Our first short-term [actions are] going to be around how do we support businesses to stretch into the strategies that they can't do by themselves," Ms Black said.
Analysis used to inform the plan highlighted key challenges such as skill shortages, a misalignment of education and industry training requirements, unclear employment pathways, a need for better digital and physical connectivity and unfavourable work conditions.
The plan then outlined actions such as further analysis to mitigate shortages, regional collaboration, business advocacy within central government, collaborations with runanga, information sharing, investigating public transport solutions, ensuring career guidance is up to date and recommending more equitable digital access.
"That stuff doesn't happen overnight, what business will see before the end of the year is they'll start to see and hear us talking about how we're pulling this together, how agencies are coming together and what insights are being learned," Ms Black said.
Another key commitment of the plan was to boost Maori participation in the labour market.
