Skills and Schemes: The Training Response to Youth Unemployment

Abstract

The introduction of the Access training scheme in 1987 was a significant point in the history of active labour market policy in New Zealand and represented a shift away from work schemes to an almost exclusive focus on the provision of training. This shift suggests a changed interpretation of the causes of unemployment and the accompanying official discourse reflects this, referring to skill deficits and mismatches forming rigidities in the labour market and leading to unemployment. This paper investigates the adequacy of this skill discourse (which remains current) and asks whether the provision of schemes such as Access is consistent with the discourse, and is an appropriate policy response to the problem of youth unemployment. The paper adopts a case study approach, analysing the changing structure of employment in the Christchurch youth labour market over the period 1976-1991.