Youth work ethic is vital

A Tauranga employment expert says it's vital youth develop a work ethic at a young age or risk a lifetime of failure.

Job Finders owner Gail McKenzie has more than 20 years' experience working in the employment field. She said years spent seeing second and third generation unemployed coming through her doors has drawn her to the conclusion that the example set at home is crucial.

"If there is no work ethic developed at [in the teenage years], in most cases it carries through into adulthood,."

Mrs McKenzie said there had been an attitudinal shift in the generations and taking a gap year after secondary school was now common. But the gap year may not involve work.

"Some do not recover from this for years as it can become a lifestyle, especially if their friends are not working as well," she said.

Mrs McKenzie said while there was a problem with youth unemployment, there was also a problem with some youth not wanting to work.

She said the Government had created a problem with the abolition of the youth rate as employers were more likely to take on an adult, given their experience, skills, and maturity.

The Government is looking to propose a new middle ground between the existing youth wages and the old youth rates.

In the 2011 calendar year, there were 702 Student Job Search (SJS) vacancies in the Bay of Plenty, with an earnings value of $2.661 million. Of those, SJS successfully filled 430 vacancies and Bay students earned $876,000 respectively. This means each time they secured a job off the SJS website, they earned an average of $2037.

Of the jobs the organisation didn't fill - 272 - about $1.775 million was lost opportunity in potential earnings for students, at an average vacancy value of $6525.

This year there has been a 15 per cent increase in calls against the same period last year.