Rotorua will be well represented on a new Regional Skills Leadership Group set up by the government to be "eyes and ears for labour market recovery" in the region post-Covid-19.

Employment Minister Willie Jackson announced today that the Government is establishing 15 independent Regional Skills Leadership Groups "to better manage changing skills and workforce needs in our regions and cities and to support the recovery of labour markets".

'These groups were planned before the arrival of Covid-19 as part of a joined-up approach to labour market planning which will see our workforce, education and immigration systems working together to better meet the differing skills needs across the country”, Jackson says.

The members of the Bay of Plenty group are listed below;

· Co-Chair: Dr Chris Tooley, Chief Executive, Te Puna Ora o Mataatua
· Co-Chair: Andrea ‘Andy' Blair, Director, Upflow Limited
· Member: Greg Simmonds, Chief Operating Officer, Priority One EDA
· Member: John Galbraith, Trustee, Toi EDA
· Member: Kylie Hawker-Green, General Manager, Enterprise Great Lake Taupō
· Member: Matt Te Pou, Chair, Te Waimana Kaaku (Tuhoe Affiliate)
· Member: Michelle Templer, Chief Executive, Rotorua Economic Development
· Member: Kirstin Miller, FIRST Union NZ
· Member: Olivia Dhanjee, Head of Youth and Community Engagement - Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology
· Member: Ezra Schuster, Regional Public Service Lead
· Member: Te Horipo Karaitiana, Trustee, Toi Kai Rawa
· Member: Nikki Johnson, Chief Executive, New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Incorporate

Jackson says Covid-19 is having far-reaching impacts on regional economies, labour markets and people.

'Initially the groups will be the eyes and ears on the ground, supporting the immediate response to the regional labour market impact arising from Covid-19,” he says.

'They will bring a local leadership voice and common view identifying workforce and skills needs in their region, both now and in the future, and advise on actions to cultivate these.”

'Our employer, skills, education, and welfare agencies will act on the groups' advice to help re-employ, redeploy or retrain workers and entrepreneurs who have lost their jobs or closed their businesses, and in so doing reduce reliance on migrant workers where New Zealanders are available and able to be trained.”

The groups feature regional industry leaders, economic development agencies, and iwi, worker and government representatives, who will be supported by a team of data analysts, policy advisors and workforce specialists.

FIRST Union General Secretary Dennis Maga says the groups are a "welcome if not long overdue step".

He says he is pleased to see a good number of FIRST Union members and officials taking up roles on these groups around New Zealand.

Rotorua-based FIRST Union organiser Kirstin Miller has been appointed to the Bay of Plenty group and FIRST Union president, Robert Reid is co-chair of the Auckland group.

Maga says regional skills and labour market bodies have been missing in New Zealand since Regional Employment and Access Councils were abolished in the early 1990s.

"The lack of regional labour market planning and active labour market strategies in New Zealand has been often criticised by the OECD, and have held back the New Zealand economy."