Luke Kirkness: How to tackle unemployment in the Bay of Plenty

Jobs are available but people aren't taking them on. Photo / NZME

OPINION

There is something to be said about the rates of unemployment in the Bay of Plenty despite a large number of positions available for the taking.

Job listings are up 43 per cent in the region and good candidates are reportedly finding work easily.

That should come as no surprise because someone with a good work ethic and good references will always be able to find work. Relevant work experience helps but is often not essential.

In Tauranga, sign-on bonuses and perks are on offer as companies and recruiters battle to secure - or keep - sought-after candidates.

Engineering, planning, construction and law sectors are experiencing particular pain.

Local recruiters say some candidates are using job offers as bargaining tools to get more perks. Fair enough, take what you can get.

One Rotorua recruiter says entry-level roles are hard to fill and candidates don't seem willing to start "at the bottom of the food chain".

Top Staff Solutions managing director Kirsten Bangs said more applicants were coming forward for specialised jobs than entry-level roles.

"I have never seen it before in my whole career."

Bangs had been working to fill sawmill worker and water blasting roles since before the August lockdown without success.

One client was seeking someone to fill a role at $23 an hour and 50 hours per week water blasting but Bangs hasn't had any luck.

Bangs says there are "more jobs than candidates" in Rotorua, where more than 5000 people receive an unemployment benefit.

There will be those who are physically unable to work but, in my view, there is sure to be plenty who are able to work but cannot be bothered.

Some seem to have forgotten what generations before us perfectly understood: We each need to earn our daily bread.

You can see how it would appeal to some to sit around at home, enjoy the sunshine or watch television, and still get paid for their efforts.

However, would it not make more sense to put these people to work?

There is a large workforce in each city and town just waiting to be mobilised. Jobs could be rolled out on a first-come, first-served type basis each day or weekly depending on the situation. Employers could also be given the choice to take people on fulltime if they so choose.

If work couldn't be completed by someone without experience or qualifications, the Government or local councils could put them to work cleaning our streets, beaches and parks of litter.

Unemployment has long been an unsolved puzzle in New Zealand and the pandemic will probably only make matters worse.

Faced with adversity, anyone can pull out great solutions to issues and maybe this could be the answer to unemployment.