— According to Immigration Service research, 21 knowledge-based organisations in the film, wool, technology and telecommunications sectors report that they are struggling to fill skilled jobs and often turn work away if they cannot recruit locally or off-shore.

— The Southland Times reports there is virtually no unemployment in Queenstown and employers are apparently searching nationwide to fill vacancies in the services, building and horticultural sectors.

— Central Otago fruitgrowers expect to double last year's production this season, and are also concerned about a worker shortages this summer.

The government's initiatives will include:

— developing a new occupational/skill forecasting model to assist people to make better informed decisions about education and training needs

— enhancing the Winz job talent bank, and improvements to the Kiwicareers website

— improving regional skill reports and making existing labour market information produced by government agencies publicly available

— requiring Industry Training Organisations (ITOs) to undertake strategic assessments of the skill needs in their industries

Source — Press Release NZ Government (Steve Maharey) 14 November 2001 "Government to introduce skills forecasting"

SHORTAGES AT THE ORCHARD

Kempthorne says that recently-relaxed immigration policies have prompted the Fruitgrowers Federation to produce a brochure targeting young international travellers for whom it is now legal to do seasonal work. A website www.seasonalwork.co.nz has been set up to put people in touch with employers who will have vacancies.

Sources — The Nelson Mail 8 November 2001 "Nelson region faces labour shortage" _ Helen Murdoch; Sunday Star Times 11 November 2001 "Foreigners plugging the brain drain" by Sarah Catherall;

"TALENT VISAS" FOR MIGRANT WORKERS

Council of Trade Unions secretary Paul Goulter agrees the "talent visa" would help fill the gaps in the economy left by the hands-off approach taken by the last government. However, his concern is that employers will see this as a way of continually plugging skills shortages without training NZ'ers to do these jobs.

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has described the new scheme as a "body blow" to NZ'ers. He argues that NZ workers should be provided with every opportunity to improve themselves. Peters: "We have ample talent amongst our own population and it is insulting to suggest that is not the case and bring in foreigners to take our jobs."

Source — New Zealand Herald 23 October 2001 "Immigrants in need of a working welcome" — Kerr Inkson; Sunday Star Times 11 November 2001 "Foreigners plugs the brain drain" — Sarah Catherall; New Zealand Herald 27 November 2001 "Govt raises the bar for immigrants" — Gregg Wycherley; Press Release the TMP Job Index Survey January _ June 2002 "No English _ no job"; The Dominion 4 December 2001 "Skilled foreigners get visa shortcut" — Christine Langdon; Press release by the NZ First Party 4 December 2001 ""Talent visa" an insult to NZ workers"; Policy announcement Minister of Immirgation Lianne Dalziel 7 December 2001 "Govt announces plan to seek skilled migrants"

DRAMATIC FALL IN JOB ADS

TMP strategy director Kaye McAulay says that this is the first time the employment survey has recorded a downturn in hiring expectations since July 1998. It is clear that managers expected a slump in employment in the Travel sector, after the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States. But a fifth of employers surveyed in Tourism, Chemicals and Oils, Transport, Manufacturing and Media sectors also expected to cut staff.

Sources — The Dominion 10 December 2001 "Job ads feel the pinch" by Marta Steeman; New Zealand Herald 27 November 2001 "Job prospects gloomy in face of slump" by Julie Middleton

THE BOOM, ARTISTS & INNOVATION

But the end of the boom may also be an important spur to creativity. Petrus Simons, of the Wellington-based Integrated Economic Services, argues that the boom of the 1990s was not a period of major innovation. He says the good economic times featured a sustained application of computer and telecommunications technology. But these technologies had already been created before the 1990s, and the economies of the last decade grew largely on the basis of refining techniques already developed.

Simons hopes that the end of the boom will make people sit up and re-think the way we have been doing things. Simons: "Whilst being the last to underestimate the adverse effects of a recession on those who have the misfortune of being unemployed, or to lose a lucrative business, a recession may have the positive effect of stimulating innovation and developing new ways of thinking."

Simons applauds the recent government moves to allow those who are unemployed and who believe that they have the ability to make a living as artists to pursue a creative career while receiving the benefit (see last issue of The Jobs Letter). He sees this as an important step in fostering innovation: "True artists are always innovators. They question old ways and find interesting new ways of doing things."

Simons recommends however that the government take a further and bolder step and require artists on the scheme to give a week of their time to their communities. He says that this has proved effective in Northern Italy where artists went to small villages and worked out ways in which other unemployed people could do useful things (example: making orange juice). The community involvement of artists in Italy has significantly reduced the deprivation in small villages.

Source — "Innovation" by Petris Simons, from the December 2001 Newsletter of Integrated Economic Services.

SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS

Te Araroa also has the support of the Mayors Taskforce for Jobs. The Taskforce has recommended a grant of $50,000 from the Employment Catalyst fund to go towards the construction of an "Ocean to Ocean" trail connecting Ahipara to Kerikeri. Far North Mayor Yvonne Sharp says the walkway project will create employment both in the building of the trail and in generating tourist facilities and services in communities along its route.

Sources — Social Entrepreneur conference organisers, Employment Matters November 2001, and Trustees of the Employment Catalyst Fund.

KEA KAHA

The Social Entrepreneur conference organisers had chosen the kea as its symbol because it is the world's only mountain parrot, it has a high level of social organisation, a propensity to play, and an unusual ability to learn and create new solutions to whatever problems they encounter. Maharey: "The kea is inquisitive and creative to the point at times of almost being annoying. It is intrepid, assertive and at times shows a breathtaking disregard for authority. One could argue that these also suggest the qualities of a social entrepreneur..."

INTERNAL AFFAIRS SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS

The CPWS scheme will continue to focus on the needs of young people, and will ultimately fund about 20 social entrepreneurs in this field throughout New Zealand. The workers will be funded for a minimum of three years, and will have the active guidance and support of the Internal Affairs Community Development Group staff.

Examples: Losa Tamati is being supported to work with Te Amorangi Richmond in Christchurch in a project to identify young Pacific Island leaders and develop the skills and attitudes necessary for successful social enterprise. Maria McEntyre is also being supported as a social entrepreneur in her capacity as Director of the Waipuna Youth and Community Trust.

— for more information on the CPWS scheme, contact Dave Mulholland at Internal Affairs phone 04-495-7200.

Source — Speech by Steve Maharey to Social Entrepreneur Conference 23 November 2001 "Enabling Social Entrepreneurs — a partnership between government and community"; vivian Hutchinson interview with Donald Shand of Internal Affairs 10 November 2001.

VOICE

BACKING FOR NEW SMALL BUSINESSES

Enterprise Hamilton already provides management training and mentoring, and chairperson Tom Beier says the next step is to give new business people backing at the bank. Enterprise Hamilton intends to raise capital from government and other sources as a guarantee for loans to those small business clients who have done the "Be Your Own Boss" training programme but do not have the collateral to back their own loan applications. Beier expects the scheme to be operating by February.

Source — Interview with Tom Beier 5 December 2001 by Dave Owens

YOUTH ENTERPRISE

He says that young people have had the doctrine of working for someone else ingrained into them for years ... but we need to encourage them to have a more entrepreneurial attitude to their working lives — both in working for someone else, or working for themselves. McVie: "In the past 5-10 years we've seen a significant attitude shift in the 16-24 year old age bracket. This age group no longer expects to have security of employment. But they can achieve security of employability if they have positive entrepreneurial can-do attitudes, and are prepared to go for it ..."

McVie says that regions wanting to reverse the youth exodus to the cities need to help young people develop new opportunities in their own communities. One of the most common reasons young people leave their home town is to find a job ... so they need to see there is support and encouragement in their own communities for new ideas and business opportunities.

The impetus for this change in climate was an inquiry carried out in 1992 into the reasons for the low rate of new business formation in Scotland — only 60 per cent of the comparable rate in the rest of the UK.

As part of the enquiry, attitudes to entrepreneurship were compared in Scotland, England, West Germany and the USA. It was found that far fewer people in Scotland than in the other countries believed that entrepreneurs contributed much to the economy, and in Scotland more people thought manual workers made a significant contribution than people who set up businesses. These findings were found to be spread throughout Scottish society with little variation among most social groups. Scots also believed that government investment was more likely to create jobs than entrepreneurs and similar views were found in schools, universities, the media and local authorities.

These findings shocked Scottish Enterprise, the main government development agency. It realised that support for enterprise is linked to personal attitudes as much as to abilities. And it also recognised that changes in the world of work would require fundamental changes in the way education is developed. This led to a wide ranging campaign to change attitudes throughout Scottish society, increasing the profile for entrepreneurship in the education system as well as developing a more encouraging environment for new business start ups.

Sources —Gordon McVie speaking at the Regional Development Conference Rotorua Convention Centre 28 November 2001; Press Release 28 November 2001 "Don't just give them a job, give them a career" by Gordon McVie; Paper "Enterprise Development In Scotland" by Tony Burton of The Planning Exchange, given to New Entrepreneurs Conference, Athens, 21-24th January 2000

MILLIONS OF SLAVE LABOURERS STILL EXIST

Slavery is not a dying institution, but is actually growing bigger every year . It is estimated to be producing an annual $12.3 billion in good and services in the global economy. Slavery is illegal in most of the countries where it is practised. But while this exploitation is usually not called slavery, the conditions are the same: people are sold like property, forced to work for little or no pay and are at the mercy of their "employers".

The slave trade is flourishing in west Africa, on what was once called the Slave Coast. UNICEF estimates that every year some 200,000 children are trafficked and sold. On the Ivory Coast, it is estimated that some 90% of the workers on the cocoa plantations are slaves. They produce half the world's cocoa sold to chocolate-producing companies.

— Special Issue of New Internationalist on Slavery (August 2001)
http://www.newint.org/

And the slavery isn't confined to Africa. The CIA estimates that 50,000 slaves are sold in the USA every year. Educated young women from Ghana and Cameroon are lured to America with the promise of a chance to study, and then enslaved as domestics. According to the UN Centre for International Crime Prevention, the trafficking of slaves is now organised crime's third largest money earner — after drugs and guns.

— Disposable People : New Slavery in the Global Economy by Kevin Bales
(pub 2000, University of California Press)
ISBN 0520224639
available from amazon.com