Leah Gates: Auckland Business Chamber COO on the tough job market impacting young workers

The Auckland Business Chamber’s bracing for the new incentive to encourage more teens to join its youth employment programme.

It uses its business network to connect them with jobs.

Chief Operating Officer Leah Gates says it's tough right now for teens.

"And in a tight labour market, they're disproportionately affected and they're competing against more experienced workers."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now the government's announced it's bringing forward policy to remove
the doll from eighteen to nineteen year olds. So from
November next year, parents earning over sixty five thousand dollars
will be expected to support their unemployed teams. Lea Gates
is the COO of the Auckland Business Chamber and their
Employment and Skills Manager and with us Now, Hi, La.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Hi, how are you doing.

Speaker 1 (00:18):
I'm very well, thank you. I hear you're a whiz
at getting kids into work.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Oh takes a teen to do it, take a village modesty.

Speaker 1 (00:26):
Okay, So what do you do? What jobs do you
fire them into?

Speaker 2 (00:31):
So the Auckland Business Chamber has been running Cadetmax, which
is a youth employment program for nearly twenty years in
South Auckland and Central Auckland. Things that we're doing is
getting them ready for work and then leaning into that
business network to define opportunities like what big industries I

(00:52):
guess for young people in Auckland, warehousing, logistics, security, hospitality, administration,
customer service, whatever is going to spin their wheels and
get them out of bed in the morning.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
I mean increasingly what's happening though, is with the cost
of living crisis. We've got older people who previously may
have retired and just happily lived off the pension unable
to do so still in these workplaces. Are these two
cohorts going to be competing with each other.

Speaker 2 (01:20):
It's tough for young people in a tight labor market.
They're disproportionately affected, and as you say, they're competing against
more experienced workers. And so, yeah, undoubtedly a really tough
time in the last couple of I.

Speaker 1 (01:36):
Mean some of these jobs, like I'm thinking, warehousing sounds
to me like a young person's game, not an old
person's game.

Speaker 2 (01:43):
Yes, and no, yeah, it probably is. But a lot
of warehousing is thoughtless driving and your employers looking for
somebody experienced. So no, they're all tough to find now
a right.

Speaker 1 (01:56):
So November next year, that's about I mean, that's slightly
more than a year away. Do you think the employment
market will be much improved.

Speaker 2 (02:03):
I'd like to think so, and I certainly think an
Auckland with some of the employment opportunities that come up
with the International Convention Center, I care general labor market, Yes,
I think it will be easier, but I also know
that in this environment where it's tough for young people
to get into jobs, they go into education and that's

(02:26):
not a bad thing either.

Speaker 1 (02:27):
Yeah, Heyleah, thanks very much appreciated and good luck with
all of the work coming your way. Leagates, Auckland Business
Chamber COO and Employment and Skills Manager. For more from
Heather Duplessy Alan Drive, listen live to news talks it'd
be from four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.