Competenz applauds vocational education funding
$1.6 BILLION WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE IN the Trades and Apprenticeships Training package to facilitate the rebuilding of the economy in the aftermath of the COVID-19 lockdown, as part of the Government’s ‘Rebuilding Together’ Budget.
Industry training organisation Competenz’s CEO, Fiona Kingsford, says, “This is the most substantial Budget to support vocational education in recent times. Competenz relishes the opportunity to ensure our industries, apprentices and trainees take full advantage of the incentives and support to enrol new learners and keep existing ones in training.”
She says the government spend is more important than ever, following a forecast by economics consultancy firm Infometrics, estimating that sectors such as general manufacturing and mechanical engineering will see employment decline by as much as 10% in the next 12 months. Forestry employment could decline by around five percent.
$412 million has been allocated for employers to retain and keep training their apprentices. This incentivises businesses to retain younger and more vulnerable staff members in the recovery process.
A further $320 million targeted investment will make trade training free in these critical industries, which will make it easier for employers to train up their existing people and help those who have lost jobs to retrain.
A further $19 million has been set aside for group training organisations (GTOs) to retain apprentices.
Additionally, the $50 million grant for Māori apprentices will support at-risk youth, especially in sectors like forestry.
These measures will also directly address the skills shortage New Zealand was facing before the pandemic began.
“Only two months ago, prior to the COVID-19 lockdown, our industries were crying out for skilled employees as the skills shortages impacted their businesses. This was a consistent story in the 37 sectors that we support,” says Ms Kingsford.
She adds that acting quickly to implement these initiatives is key: “It is critical that we don’t pause the momentum to bring young people with new skills into our sectors, especially as a number of these sectors have been reliant on skilled migrant labour, and the future of this labour flow is no longer certain. We will communicate with our employers, learners and industry when we have additional information on how they will be rolled out and the part Competenz will play in that.”
NZL