Rt Hon John Key – column
I’ve just returned from a very successful visit to Los Angeles, where I met with heads and senior executives of major United States film studios. While in Los Angeles I spent time promoting the vibrant New Zealand screen industry – which is worth $3 billion in revenue to our economy. New Zealand has a growing reputation as a great place…………. to make outstanding films. Quite simply, I took this opportunity to talk with industry executives to encourage them to bring their business to New Zealand.
Across the board, National is working hard to support businesses to grow and invest in more and higher paying jobs for New Zealanders. Putting the right economic settings in place that gives businesses the confidence they need to grow and hire more staff, is one of the ways we plan to build a more competitive and productive economy.
Our plan is working. According to the Household Labour Force Survey, which is the standard internationally-recognised measure of employment, a net 57,000 more New Zealanders have a job now than two years ago. The Government’s measures across the board are helping businessesemploy more people and invest in growing their workforce.
We’ve brought in the 90-day trial period for new employees, which has created 13,000 jobs. Of the 40 per cent of employers who hired someone, we are told they would not have done so without the security of the 90-day trial. We’re also helping to train a more highly skilled workforce to ensure that our young people have the skills to meet employers’ demands now, and in the future. We’re increasing the number of apprenticeships and training places in areas where we know there is a shortage of qualified staff, such as in the engineering sector, or trades like carpenters and brick-layers.
Our Youth Guarantee, which provides fees-free tertiary education places to young people, has been taken up by more than 10,000 young New Zealanders. We’ve also invested $152 million in the Youth Opportunities packageto give 12,000 young New Zealanders an opportunity to work. National is committed to giving businesses the confidence to take on another employee, by putting the economic settings in place that give them confidence in our brighter future.
ENDS
