Co-chairs foreword - He kōrero whakataki nā ngā heamana takirua

Tēnā koutou katoa

We are pleased to present our Te Tai Poutini West Coast Regional Workforce Plan. It aims to ensure everyone has access to the skills, education and training they need to find sustainable employment in our region, and that businesses have access to the people they need to thrive.

Across Te Tai Poutini West Coast there is a vibrant business community who are passionate about their employees, their region, and all it has to offer. Our region is a place full of potential and opportunity. This plan is about working together to capitalise on our advantages and helping our community fulfil their needs and aspirations in our labour market.

The Te Tai Poutini West Coast Regional Skills Leadership Group is one of 15 established by Government to identify and support better ways of meeting future skills and workforce needs. As part of a joined-up approach to labour market planning our role is to help ensure that our workforce, education, welfare, and immigration systems work together to better meet the differing skills needs for our region.

The purpose of the plan is to help project labour supply needs working alongside the Workforce Development Councils and contribute to meeting them. Our aim is to help ensure that Te Tai Poutini has the workforce it needs to seize local economic opportunities. In today’s economy, it is more important than ever that support is provided to ensure our workforce have access to the right skills and training so that they can find jobs and meet future workforce demands. Maximising our economic prosperity and social wellbeing means improving our quality of life and ensuring that there are good employment opportunities for our people.

Good employment outcomes are influenced by a range of factors. This plan aims to support more inclusive employment by focusing on a range of groups in our community that consistently experience poor employment outcomes. Our aim is to make sure that these groups succeed. When our children leave school and tertiary training, we want to ensure they have the basic skills and qualifications needed to secure decent jobs and build successful careers. With a relatively high number of youth/rangatahi not in education, employment, or training, we must work together to help support them. Our aim is to increase the supply and quality of skills training to all ages and backgrounds to meet our current and forecast labour demands. We will do this by working with our schools, tertiary education providers, our community, businesses, and government departments.

One of the main benefits of this document is that it not only brings together and helps to coordinate some of the mahi already underway, but it also identifies new opportunities. With multiple government departments and agencies involved in the region’s economic activity and prosperity, the aim is for us to all be in one waka paddling in the same direction to achieve great outcomes for our people.

Finally, we would like to thank all those who contributed to this plan – everyone who provided their feedback, met with us, or who offered their experiences, and knowledge. We look forward to working with you and our partners to implement the collective actions set out in this plan to create a labour market which underpins a strong, inclusive, and competitive regional economy.

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