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Skills and talents one: raising capability, capacity and average income in your region

Key Points

• New Zealand is going 'flat out' - we have high employment and high participation.
• Labour shortages and low productivity are key constraints to economic growth.
• New Zealand can be viewed as a 'regional' labour market - labour flows between New Zealand and Australia in almost the same way it flows between Australian states.
• The main argument as to why labour productivity is higher in Australia than in New Zealand is that the amount of capital invested per worker is a lot higher in Australia than New Zealand.
• Volume produced also plays a role. New Zealand often does not achieve the volume of output required to support the technology necessary to increase productivity.
• There is a limit to how far wages can increase, based on increased working hours, because there is a limit to the number of hours households can work while maintaining a work/life balance.
• Drug and alcohol problems in the workforce need to be worked through.
• Attracting, retaining, training and making the most of people is vital to improve productivity.
• Skilled people are the key. Funding certainty and smooth work programmes are critical for facilitating investment in people.
• Investment in infrastructure, technology and skills is important, as is co-operation between government, employers and NGOs.
• Developing employer skills to take on diverse migrant employees goes to the fundamentals of how we should start viewing the labour market, although this is not just an issue for migrants. Other groups also need to be considered (e.g. attracting more women into the workforce).
• Parents often want their children to go to University to gain a recognised qualification.
• Workers want an occupational qualification that they can identify with to ensure investing in obtaining it will be worthwhile.
• The challenge is to develop a culture of life-long learning, with the workplace being seen as a place of learning as well as doing.
• The focus around training and development needs to be at the industry level, rather than the individual firm level.
• Industry Training Organisations have a role in strategic leadership and present an opportunity for better co-ordination across industry groups.
• Any companies or educators interested in participating in industry partnerships should get in contact with their MSD Regional Commissioner.