Louise Upston promotes MSD resources to boost Gisborne employment

Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston (second from right) and East Coast MP Dana Kirkpatrick (third from right) meet staff from Currie Construct and the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) at a Lavenham Rd worksite this week.

Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston championed regional employment opportunities through the Ministry of Social Development during a visit to Gisborne this week.

Upston hosted her third Ministry of Social Development (MSD) regional employment event after similar meetings in Levin and Hutt Valley.

Employers, training providers and community organisations met with MSD staff in a campaign to get more people into the workforce.

She told the Gisborne Herald that MSD had many resources to help Tairāwhiti employers find suitable people for their workforce, and she aimed to raise awareness of this option among businesses.

MSD could provide “screened” employment candidates considered to be suitable for “not just for that job, but for that business”, according to Upston. MSD could also provide support such as wage subsidies, training or financial assistance to purchase equipment.

She said MSD and employers were key to the Government’s target of reducing the number of people on the Jobseeker Benefit by 50,000 by 2030.

Upston and East Coast MP Dana Kirkpatrick visited Currie Construction staff working at a road dropout on Lavenham Rd.

The company used MSD to source staff, and representatives spoke at the Gisborne regional employment event.

Repair House was another local business which uses MSD for their recruitment needs, said Upston.

Unemployment rose to 5.1% in June, but Upston said there had been employment success in Gisborne.

There were 2763 Gisborne people on benefits in March, but at the end of the month, 345 had entered the workforce.

According to a new policy scheduled to be introduced in 2027, 18 and 19-year-olds not in training, education or the workforce, who could not financially support themselves, would be supported by their parents, not the state.

“The Government does not accept that a life on welfare is as good as it gets for our young people,” Upston said.

“We expect that our young people will be in work or training.”

Kirkpatrick said she had received emails from parents with children who had gone straight from school to a benefit.

“They desperately want their children out of the gate, training or working,” Kirkpatrick said.

“The fact they could go straight on to a benefit didn’t help at all.”

Amendment: An earlier version of this story did not specify the year that the new policy for 18 and 19-year-olds not in training, education or the workforce will be introduced- 2027.