Extract:

Introduction

Local boards across South Auckland have been addressing high NEET rates among rangatahi in their communities, making significant investments to support young people into employment and education. A key plank of this work is local board support for Youth Connections, operating through The Southern Initiative (TSI). TSI is researching and prototyping how to ensure that young people are not just employed, but are moving into high-quality jobs and avoiding the traps of in-work poverty.

In 2019, some of this research explored the journey travelled by young South Aucklanders from school into the workforce, up to the age of 25. This research described the connection between school attainment and higher employment rates, as well as the the phenomenon of ‘second chance learners’.

Of course, school qualifications are not the only predictor of employment and good wages. To enable better design and delivery of youth employment initiatives, we sought to more deeply understand the profile of young people in each local board area, in order for more effective and strategic design, commissioning, and delivery of targeted support.

The business and economic research consultancy BERL has provided TSI with data on the profile of young people aged 15-25 in the four local board areas covered by TSI, as compared across the boards, with the rest of Auckland and the rest of New Zealand. They did this by analysing the data of approximately 119,000 rangatahi whose last recorded address was in one of the four South Auckland local board areas, using the government’s Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI). BERL’s initial findings on demography, education and qualifications, contact with the authorities, income and debt, have been rounded out in this report with data from the Census, Ministry of Education school leaver tables, and the Household Labour Force Survey. ...

Auckland Council, February 2020