Leeann Watson: Immigration alone can’t bridge New Zealand’s ‘employability gap’

Sixty thousand young New Zealanders leave school each year. For context, the latest net migration numbers for the year ending in January sit at 33,158. Photo / 123rf

OPINION:

There has been a lot said in recent years, particularly following Covid-19, about our constrained labour market in New Zealand. The conversation has centred on immigration settings, which businesses generally describe on a spectrum from being unfit-for-purpose at the light end through to actively obstructive at the other.

We see businesses everyday struggle with the complexity, cost, and delays that are now expected when dealing with ImmigrationNZ, and as the CEO of the Canterbury Employers’ Chamber of Commerce, the South Island’s largest business support agency, advocacy for open and predicable immigration settings has made up a significant part of my role over the last few years.

With such low unemployment, industries are adapting through digitisation and automation, but there is also a real need for an open and honest conversation about education and how we can better set up our own school leavers to plug the gaps in our workforce both now and in the future.

"The rapid advancement of technologies like ChatGPT and the increasing demand for skilled workers in industries like advanced manufacturing and automation require a more flexible approach to education." Photo / Michael Craig

Sixty thousand young people leave school each year. For context, the latest net migration numbers for the year ending in January sit at 33,158, so just over half of the talent pool we have coming out of our schools each year.

There must now be openness from the public and Government to really question whether we are setting these young people up for success and giving them the best possible start to enter what is an incredibly fast-changing workplace, and an increasingly complex society.

While there is already huge opportunity out there for our young people, there is also growing concern from businesses that our education system is no longer setting them up with the foundational skills they need to participate fully – and succeed – in further education and in the workplace.

Core skills like reading, writing and maths, and soft skills like communication, time management, and critical thinking are on the decline. The impacts of a rigid education system and its failure to keep pace with evolving economic and social needs, and the rapid advancement of technology, are also contributing to the employability gap that has left us over-reliant on immigration.

Not only are these issues causing a dependence on immigration, particularly for skilled workers, but there are costs for businesses that need to remediate these basic skills in the workplace to maintain productivity. In the workplace we are also seeing people within existing roles having to be retrained, adapt and learn new skills as roles change due to automation and digitisation. Ensuring those workers have the ability to adapt and engage in further learning is essential.

There is a disconnect that is starting to play out here and we can unlock some huge opportunities for our economy and communities if we are committed to finding solutions.

So, what might these solutions look like?

Firstly, and most obviously, we need to get the basics right. Being an election year, there are a number of views about how we might approach this. The basic principle of any change, though, must be that we are producing school leavers who can read and write. It may sound basic, but the fact is our literacy and numeracy levels are at an all-time low. How that plays out in a workplace can be a significant safety issue, or simply being able to communicate well with colleagues. Critical thinking, making decisions, and having a growth mindset are essential to help set our young people up to be resilient and to succeed in whatever career path or future learning they choose.

Canterbury Employers Chamber of Commerce chief executive Leeann Watson. Photo / Supplied

Then there are some exciting opportunities.

The rapid advancement of technologies like ChatGPT and the increasing demand for skilled workers in industries like advanced manufacturing and automation require a more flexible and adaptive approach to education. Educators must understand that traditional industries such as manufacturing and the primary sectors are very different now to what they once were, and can provide significant new opportunities for school leavers. Emerging industries such as aerospace, technological advances in areas such as medical devices and even the shifts we are seeing in the food, fibre and agriculture sectors all need to be understood by those in education who have such significant influence on our young people and the career choices they make.

We must increase our collaboration between businesses, the education system, and students if we want to join the dots and realise the full spectrum of opportunities available for our young people. We need to set our education system up so that there is capacity for schools to have increased engagement with business to work together to develop a talent pipeline and career opportunities that schools and students may not have otherwise known about, giving school leavers exposure to the workforce and helping them develop the skills needed for employment. These partnerships bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application, fostering work-ready school leavers and graduates in careers that will keep our economy competitive into the future.

We also need to better develop 21st-century skills earlier than in a tertiary environment. Being flexible and responsive to changes in the economy should be part of our education system to ensure that the next generation of our workforce embraces new technology, is agile, adaptable and resilient to navigate future uncertainty and change.

Of course, at the centre of all this, from teaching the basics to adopting new and cutting-edge approaches to learning, is creating and maintaining an education system that is more closely aligned with the needs of the workforce, so we can ensure that school leavers are better equipped to succeed in the world of work and in a modern society that is changing at pace and demanding new ways of thinking and operating.

As a small island nation, we will always be somewhat dependent on international talent, and it is important to acknowledge that migrants coming into our country make a significant contribution to our communities. They add a richness to our diversity, exposing us to and educating us on their cultures. As a small country at the bottom of the world that is also reliant on our international trading partners, this will always be important. But equally important is preparing our homegrown talent for careers here, through quality educational opportunities that align with the opportunities of the future.

The flow-on effect of closing the gaps in our education system and aligning educational programmes with current and future workforce needs is that the next generation of our workforce will enjoy more diverse and successful careers and better contribute to our country’s long-term economic growth and community outcomes, making us less dependent on our immigration settings in the future.

Leeann Watson is the chief executive of the Canterbury Employers’ Chamber of Commerce, the largest business support agency in the South Island.