May 20, 2020
Job boost plan targeting city kids
Employment Minister Willie Jackson is pushing back on National’s latest talking point that the Budget shows the Government doesn’t have a plan.
His plan is to soften the expected impact of the COVID-19 economic shock and build for the recovery with a $1.6 billion training and apprenticeship package.
Key aspects have been trialled in the provinces with the Mana and Mahi and He Poutama Rangatahi programmes, where the government worked with the community and Māori organisations to prepare young people to enter the workforce.
Now it’s looking for more partners in the major cities.
"We’ve got a lot of these young ones still sitting round in Mangere, Otahuhu, Otara, Manurewa, doing nothing, so I want some of our organisations to say to us 'I've got a plan, I want to work with young Rangi or whoever, I want to work with the whānau, and we're in.' it won't start until July so through June I've asked my officials to start contacting the Māori organisations, do we have a plan? Do we have a way to get these nephs and nieces off the couch," Minister Jackson says.
He Poutama Rangatahi has a more than 80 per cent success rate with more than 3000 young people going on to full employment so far.
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