KEY POINTS:
A nine day working fortnight that would see workers undertake a day of training on the tenth and a co-fund between banks and the government are the two major proposals to come out of today's Job Summit.
The brainstorming sessions among the 200 invited participants - dominated by
business heavyweights - ended with a 'top twenty' ideas, ranging from the mundane to the unexpected.
Summit representatives have said a nine day working fortnight with a day of training would see jobs retained and up-skill workers at the same time.
At a press conference following the summit, Prime Minister John Key said the Government would not be paying 100 per cent of workers' wages on the tenth day but would most likely look at potentially funding the training.
He said some firms were already moving to a four day work.
"It's really everyone on the shop floor holding hands to save the job of their mate," Mr Key said.
The banking co-fund could put the tax payer at risk, given the Government will partially be underwriting it, but Mr Key said there were still a lot of details to be worked out.
Mr Key told the summit that the plan showed ingenuity.
"For the non-bankers here, that means providing a pot of investment money to help New Zealand companies get the access to share capital money to grow the cake and therefore create jobs," Mr Key said.
Investment banker Rob Cameron said the proposed co-fund could save companies that are otherwise sound but are in a dangerous position because they cannot raise capital. He said the cost of the fund was hard to predict.
There were other proposals aired at the summit's conclusion by various chairs and co-chairs of sub-committees.
Mr Key told delegates that the summit had produced "ideas galore".
Paraphrasing Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard earlier in the day, Mr Key said if all the ideas presented today were laid out, they would reach to the sun and back.
Professor Ngatata Love told the summit that Maori would look to use their assets and land to generate jobs which included the possibility of building houses on Maori owned land.
Local Government New Zealand president Lawrence Yule said his group proposed a moratorium on the water and air pollution standards legislation. He said the legislation would cost local government authorities and was not "job rich".
Fisher & Paykel Appliances chief executive John Bongard told the conference his group proposed the cabinet "stop making unnecessary rules".
He said tourism was also a key area to focus on with current forecasts predicting a 15 per cent drop in numbers visiting New Zealand and representing 27,000 lost jobs.
Mr Key said delegates and the public will be able to keep up to date with government work on the proposals by the Job Summit website.
