Eleven years until first job: Waihi woman Charlotte Parangi loving her work

Charlotte Parangi and mum Angela Armiger at home in Waihi. Photo / Supplied

After more than a decade of volunteer work, 32-year-old Waihi woman Charlotte Parangi was proud to spend her first pay on something for herself and a gift for her mum.

Charlotte works Tuesdays and Wednesdays for three hours a day at Waihi New World.

It is her first job.

"It feels like a family," she says. "I love it."

Charlotte grew up in Waihi and attended Waihi College until age 21.

She has a resume that would be attractive to any caring employer willing to give a person with a disability a shot.

Mum Angela Armiger says other people making judgments is really hard on Charlotte.

"As she grew into an adult she was aware of people making those judgments and that hurts. We need to be accepting of people and including them, looking at what they can do, not saying 'they can't'."

But Charlotte was lucky to live in Waihi.

"We've been part of the community for a long time and it's a lovely community, and we got lots of help when I was looking for things to fill Charlotte's days after leaving school," says Angela.

Charlotte volunteered at the Salvation Army, St John Ambulance and worked with Angela at the Waihi Central School library.

"She's very sociable and community-minded. She loves people."

Up until the last few years Charlotte did not feel ready to get a paid job.

A 2013 NZ Disability Survey revealed 1.1 million New Zealanders were classified as disabled, which equals one in five Kiwis.

Workbridge, an organisation that has been helping disabled Kiwis and others struggling with health difficulties find employment for 90 years, says it's incredible, given the labour shortage, that six out of 10 disabled Kiwis are out of work.

It is the worst it has been in four years.

While the jobless rate for non-disabled had held at 4 per cent, that compared to 9.6 per cent, up from 8.3 per cent, for disabled people.

Jonathan Mosen, chief executive of Workbridge, says those ongoing struggles are a "moral and economic failure".

New Zealand's economy was missing out on key skills disabled people could contribute, and the money they could be putting into the country's coffers.

"Struggling businesses and industries desperate for workers in the face of border restrictions to fight a pandemic and the Government's immigration reset - and 177,000 working-age Kiwis left on the bench," he said.

Jonathan Mosen of Workbridge believes too many working-age Kiwis are being left on the bench. Photo / Supplied

Workbridge-commissioned research in 2016 showed that could be as much as $1 billion in taxes alone, if more disabled people were employed. There would also be greater savings in various benefits, and more money circulating through the economy.

Thanks to Charlotte's Workbridge consultant Jude Lindfield, the 32-year-old has been packing groceries at New World since mid-March.

New World Waihi store owner Harminder Chahal and his son, store manager Amandeep, have employed people with disabilities before and were surprised to hear that many are overlooked.

"Maybe there's an opportunity for businesses to look at people with disabilities," said Amandeep. "We've always had people with disabilities work for us."

He saw Charlotte's resume showing she had customer service experience from her volunteering with St John and decided checkout work might suit her.

"At the interview she said she was quite passionate about getting into working in a supermarket in particular. She's really smiley and seemed like a really nice person, and is good for a customer facing department.

"Customers are interacting with her really well and it seems to be good for her development to be out with people."

Employment consultant Jude helped Charlotte with her resume and interviewing skills, then approached potential employers and coached Charlotte along the way.

Charlotte Parangi has her first job at age 32 and is loving it. Photo / Supplied

Workbridge says the median hourly earnings from wages and salaries for disabled people was $25.22, compared with $27.81 for non-disabled people.

Charlotte is extremely proud of her earning capacity and she celebrated with mum Angela the day she got her first pay.

"Since she's been working at New World Waihi the staff there have been supporting her and looked after her, it's just been amazing," says Angela.

"I've always been proud of Charlotte but it's just so lovely to see the young woman she's grown into. I saw her confidence skyrocket. She has a job and she gets paid for it and she's good at it.

"Charlotte has so much to teach people, she zones in on what's important in life and is so accepting of other people. She's kind and generous, all those things that matter."