Building trainee numbers plummet in Canterbury

new-zealand-labour-party

Tue Jul 26 2011 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)

Building trainee numbers plummet in Canterbury

Tuesday, 26 July 2011, 11:52 am
Press Release: New Zealand Labour Party

The number of building and construction trainees plummeted almost 50 per cent in Canterbury during the first two years of the National Government, says Labour's Earthquake Recovery spokesman and Waimakariri MP Clayton Cosgrove.

"When National came into office at the end of 2008, there were 1049 building and construction industry trainees in Canterbury," Clayton Cosgrove said. "Two years later, in December 2010, the number dropped 45 per cent to 578. That's staggering.

"The drastic fall-off in industry trainee numbers generally shows a total lack of any skills strategy and a failure to invest in the future by the National Government. Following the quakes Canterbury faces the biggest demand for skills in its history, but you wouldn't know it from any commitment by the National Government to skills training.

"The number involved in industry training overall in Canterbury has fallen by 5361, or 34 per cent, from 15,687 to 10,326 between December 2008 and December 2010. The fall-off in the building and construction industry is even worse."

Clayton Cosgrove said the appalling figures have emerged in answers from Tertiary Education Minister Steven Joyce to a series of written questions from Labour Tertiary Education spokesperson David Shearer. "No wonder National has been reluctant to release these figures which Labour has had to extract through parliamentary questions.

"With youth unemployment around the highest of any developed country, National is showing zero commitment to addressing the problem.

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"No wonder Kiwis are leaving for Australia in droves," Clayton Cosgrove said.

"It's even harder to keep young people in Christchurch than elsewhere in the country. The situation in the building and construction industry is disastrous. The 40 per cent drop in training nationally coincides with increased demand for housing, which is forecast to spiral upwards.

"Over 10,000 new houses are needed in Christchurch alone, with repair work needed on a further 100,000 houses as a result of the earthquakes. Repair of leaky homes and the growing shortfall of housing in Auckland will contribute to further demand.

"Lack of skills will create a bottleneck which will force prices up, putting Cantabrians under further pressure and making housing more expensive for Kiwis generally."

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