Jobs summit throws up three big ideas

Prime Minister John Key addresses delegates at the Jobs Summit. Photo / Kenny Rodger

A national campaign to save or create thousands of jobs and stabilise shaky businesses will hinge on three main ideas from yesterday's Jobs Summit.

A nine-day working fortnight, an investment fund worth hundreds of millions of dollars and - the surprise item - a cycleway the length of New Zealand are among the few specific ideas to emerge in a 21-point plan to counter the ailing economy.

Prime Minister John Key will give priority to working on taxpayer-paid training subsidies for businesses that cut a working fortnight to nine days, with nine days' pay.

But he has ruled out the Government entirely paying the wages for the tenth day, saying: "I think it wouldn't be possible to fund it 100 per cent."

The Government was more likely to pay for training than wage replacement.

The cost to the Government of paying a one-day-a-fortnight wage subsidy has been put at $320 million a year.

In Mr Key's closing speech to the summit in Manukau yesterday, he said he wanted to investigate the idea "without delay".

The summit also heard about Mr Key's idea to complete the Te Araroa walkway the length of New Zealand, and his plan for a cycleway through national parks.

Under the plan, $50 million would be spent to employ 4000 people to build the cycleway.

Summit chairman and Stock Exchange chief executive Mark Weldon said Mr Key raised the idea at a pre-summit meeting on Tuesday. It was not one of the formal top 20 ideas.

The most expensive proposal from the summit was for an equity investment fund involving the Government and private banks as partners.

Though figures were not discussed in open sessions, the scheme would involve hundreds of millions of dollars.

The most expensive single pledge given yesterday came from Warehouse founder Stephen Tindall, who said the Tindall Foundation would put $1 million towards "bottom-up" training that helped improve people's access to information and services.

About 200 leaders from business, unions, sector interest groups and politicians took part in the summit, which divided into six work groups.

At the summit, Mr Key said the public-private investment fund would be "a pot of investment money to help New Zealand companies get the access to share capital they need to grow their cake and therefore to create jobs".

Later, he said it was an idea with "a fair bit of merit", but would need to be explored.