The member of Parliament for Clutha-Southland, which includes the Wakatipu, and Finance Minister addressed hundreds of delegates at the annual Careers and Transition Education Association conference in Queenstown on Friday.
Mr English said there were great opportunities for young school-leavers to enter industries such as tourism, construction, information technology and agriculture, which had a steady supply of jobs.
The Government invested time and extra money to ensure there was a pathway for every young person and reorganised schools, polytechs, industry training organisations and universities to provide those pathways, he said.
''Businesses need to take a bit more responsibility for training their own staff, because the education system can't supply them with well-trained, skilled, experienced staff,'' Mr English said after the speech.
''We can only supply them with the raw material to achieve that.
''On the other hand, our public institutions need to be more open to connect the partnerships with businesses and to understanding what businesses need.''
