‘A new car with that Big Mac?’
Alison Mau: What I learned when McDonald's sacked me
If I were Prime Minister – and yes I hear you chuckle, it’s a massive stretch, but haven’t we all had the fleeting thought at one time or another? – everyone would have to get a part-time job by the age of 16. Total fantasy I know, but I reckon nothing does more to focus the mind of a teenager than having to pay for the stuff they lust after, out of their own hard graft. For some it’s more than that, it’s a matter of necessity; they have to help the family put food on the table. My first job was pulling weeds in a plant nursery at age 13. I graduated to Maccas at 15. Working in fast food is hard graft alright; when the staff motto is ‘‘If you’ve got time to lean, you’ve got time to clean’’ you know the graft doesn’t stop till you clock off. I was a hard worker thanks to the values my parents instilled but I was ornery – eventually sacked after refusing to deliver the requisite up-sell tactic (‘‘would you like fries with that? A drink, a sundae with that? Did you lose your mind between the back of the queue and the counter and no longer remember what it was you wanted to order?’’ I asked the next customer whether he wanted a new car with that, and was booted out the door on the spot. The first steps into a lifetime of relentless employment, and lucky me. For some people finding the path to a job is much harder, and the path is littered with obstacles, not of their making, right from step one. This week the Prime Minister Bill English was at an apple orchard in Hawkes Bay to help launch a $50m plan to get young people in the regions into jobs. There were raised eyebrows, this being the very same Prime Minister who insisted four months ago, those same young people were too stoned to qualify for the jobs they were offered, or at least that’s what ‘‘several business owners every week’’ were telling him. It was a way to justify record immigration figures. It was also wrong, according to the Government’s own figures, which showed a 0.17 fail rate amongst unemployed jobseekers who were drug tested in 2015. When I spoke to him on RadioLive the Prime Minister didn’t seem to see the contradiction. No, I have not had some kind of epiphany, he said, and this is not an election bribe. The plan talks about matching youth to employers, with ongoing support that is tailored to the individual, to keep the young person in employment over time, which does sound good – better than finding them a 90-day trial and then walking away. Beyond that, exact details are a bit fuzzy. I wanted to know what, exactly, is keeping young people who want to work, from getting it? The answer came pretty quickly from the Mayoral Taskforce for Jobs, a group of mayors from around the country who’ve been sharing strategies for the past 17 years.
Chair and Mayor of Kawerau Malcolm Campbell was pretty blunt – it’s almost all about the drivers’ licence. Young people are three times as likely to find a job if they have their restricted or full licence. It can come as a shock when you realise that there’s a single issue that, if sorted, could change the landscape radically. But a study funded by Treasury last year found the following; Only 23 per cent of 18-24 year-old work-ready beneficiaries have one. And yet 70 per cent of jobs specify a full drivers licence, even for entry-level jobs that don’t involve any driving.
Employers tend to use it as shorthand for the reliability, capabilities and attitude of a jobseeker, but few of them see the benefit in helping a young person get their licence; in fact many employers surveyed hadn’t given much thought to how licensing might affect their workforce.
That’s not a one-way street, either; the young people surveyed didn’t always get the connection between a licence and their employability. Once they do ‘‘get it’’, there’s a lot that stands in their way. They need high literacy skills, a legal car to learn in, a licensed person to supervise them, the money to pay the costs and access to a testing station. If they fail, the process and costs start over again. We know that people spend less time on a benefit if they have a licence, but the barriers to getting one are too high for some youth. Malcolm Campbell told me licensing offices need to be brought back to our regional towns.
The Prime Minister seemed to agree. But the best idea this week came in the form of the Maori Party’s Passport To Life policy, which now has National’s support and another $8 million.
It will help NEETs, those Not in Employment, Education or Training, get passports, bank accounts, IRD numbers and yes, driver licences. And although it’s a Maori party policy, it is not (as Hobson’s Choice called it this week) a ‘‘racist’’ idea just for Maori; it’s open to all.