'Nothing to do': Young people hit hard by job shortage - youth worker

Young jobless people are left feeling bored and apathetic as they struggle to find jobs or training opportunities, a youth worker says.

Unemployment among those aged between 15 and 24 is sitting at almost three times the rate of the general population.

The latest unemployment figures which were released on Wednesday were higher than expected, at 5.7 percent, the highest they have been in 11 years.

That means 174,000 people are now out of work, 3000 more than in the June 2026 quarter.

Unemployment among people aged 15 to 24 increased to 15.2 percent, almost three times the general population rate.

The number of 15 to 24 year olds who are not in employment, education or training (NEET) is up from 13.8 percent to 14.1 percent.

The numbers are much higher in the regions.

Alex Le Long, who runs Te Araroa Evolutions Charitable Trust in Ōpōtiki where almost half of young people are not in employment, education or training, said she was seeing more people struggling with finding employment or education.

"Walking around very late at night, sometimes up to 11 o'clock, they've got nothing to do.

"They're very bored, apathetic. They're sitting in homes, sitting in places at the playground. There's nothing for them to do.

"We've just had two very important programmes closed down here, and that has reinforced the need to wrap around our young people even more."

She said the first programme to close was the Youth to Employment programme that specifically supported young people into programmes to develop their confidence and help them get into employment.

That was followed by the closure of Te Ara Tau, which helped full-time parents get back into work.

"They need confidence, understanding, someone who can actually hear them, listen, create a safe space for them to be able to figure out what their passions are. And we don't really have many safe places like that in Ōpōtiki outside of school and those programmes."

Le Long said a lot of the jobs in the region were seasonal, with local larger businesses such as Mitre 10 and New World doing what they could to take on younger people.

She said places like Ōpōtiki would benefit from career and jobs expos to showcase what jobs were actually available. A recent job opening received 47 applications.

"We have some incredible organisations in our town that already do mahi with our young people. One of them is Charlie Hayes Engineering. They do incredible work with all of our young kids that are interested in welding.

"It's about developing confidence in our young people. So I'm incredibly optimistic, but we also have to be realistic because our young people don't feel comfortable when they come back from university, some kids have still not found jobs after going to university.

"So we just need to help them identify where the options are and support them as much as we possibly can," Le Long said.