RECORD LOW UNEMPLOYMENT: Vanessa plants the seeds of new career

By Rachel Tiffen
Vanessa Lemberg is the only person in her family not on the dole - and she's proud of that.
"All of them are on the dole now. I don't know how they can live on that little bit of money each week," she said matter-of-factly.
Ms Lemberg is one of nine young Bay adults tackling a new Tauranga City Care employment initiative as unemployment in the region hits a record low of 3.1 per cent.
That was the average rate for the June quarter and equals the previous quarterly record set in September 2004.
Department of Statistics' Household Labour Force Surveys from past years show our unemployment rate has dropped from 4.9 per cent for the same June period last year and down from 6.6 per cent in 2003.
Work and Income Bay of Plenty regional commissioner for social development, Carl Crafar, applauded the new result and credited a push on skill-building employment initiatives like the City Care programme over the past 12 months.
"These types of programmes are great. You know getting that initial ability and then having somebody work with the individual," he said.
Building relationships with stakeholders and community groups and encouraging industry and employer relationships would reduce the unemployment rate even more, he said.
The City Care scheme provides hands-on experience in a variety of practical trades from horticulture, mechanical, waste-water and fresh-water to storm-water, arborcare, roading and electrical work.
And seven months since it began in Tauranga, 10 workers have become nine - as one recruit has already been offered work.
Ms Lemberg, a 20-year-old Merivale resident, is not adverse to wallowing in waste, marching through muck or toiling in tarseal to earn her weekly pay cheque. And this week, she was lending a nurturing hand to 1400 plants at Yatton Park.
This is an admirable turn-around for the high school drop-out who readily confesses classroom learning "just wasn't for me".
During her stint in electrics, Ms Lemberg discovered an untapped knack for the fiddly trade. She now has strong aspirations of becoming an electrician.
"I actually thought I was going to be a bum for the rest of my life because it's hard to get a job when you have got no qualifications," Ms Lemberg confessed.
She chuckled while explaining how she fell into the course. Her ex-boyfriend was applying and asked her to come along to the seminar for support.
"Then I got the phonecall saying I was accepted and my ex wasn't," she said.
Ms Lemberg has experienced both highs and lows while dabbling in the trades.
She said helping clean up flood-devastated Matata in May was satisfying, but at the same time "very depressing". Ms Lemberg also helped out in Tauranga during the floods - "moving sandbags and stuff".
City Care pre-apprentice co-ordinator Ray Sperling was thrilled with the debut crew of young adults.
He said the aim was to get them straight into work after the 12-month course.
"Ultimately into apprenticeships, but it could just be some form of employment until an opening comes up. In other words, so they get the first cab off the rack, in terms of apprenticeships and employment."