Jobs support targets Pacific youth

NEW ZEALAND – A successful support programme for young Pacific youth is lifting incomes and living standards for New Zealand’s Pasifika population.

Pacific Employment Support Services (PESS) has seen more than 80 per cent of its 1400 applicants placed in jobs or training opportunities since it was launched in 2011.

Currently Pacific youth unemployment in New Zealand is at 30 per cent compared with the national youth average of 16 per cent.

A past participant Tua Tualima said he was thankful he was not in that category, explaining that the programme turned his life around.

“I’m just happy that this programme gives second chances to our brown people. All I did in high school was just eat my lunch and play rugby at lunchtime.”

He’s now employed as a youth worker and was also selected as a player in the New Zealand Warriors’ Under 20s rugby league team.

But he says his life would be very different, had he not gone through the Pacific Employment Support Services, or PESS, training programme.

“I would probably be working in the factories or probably working with my dad or probably doing housework at home,”

“I reckon for myself, it’s like an open door for the other brown kids going through this programme. It’s benefitted me pretty well.” he explained

The Minister of Pacific Peoples, Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga, said it was great to see the programme making a difference in the lives of Pasifika youth.

“It makes you feel proud. You know certainly when our parents migrated and certainly when I migrated, they didn’t have these opportunities to get a hand up,” he said.

This was echoed by Susan Willis-Baker from the training and employment centre SENZ, one of the programme’s providers.

“For us, the PESS programme is that hand up that makes a difference to our people,” she said.

“At the heart of this programme, is that every young person is valuable and that they have potential yet to be realised.”

Adrian Roberts, a spokesperson from PESS provider Inwork, congratulated New Zealand employers who, through the programme, are giving young people like Tualima a chance.

“Now these businesses stepped up to give at least one young person a go,” he said.

“From small businesses to large corporates, our New Zealand employers consistently demonstrated they value, they care and where possible, support their communities.”

Government figures show Pacific people are over-represented among the unemployed, lower-skilled workers and low income earners. - RNZI