Trade Me joins pledge to get more young Aucklanders into jobs

Leading online marketplace, Trade Me, has pledged its commitment to increase youth employment in Auckland by becoming the latest business to sign up to the region’s Youth Employer Pledge Programme.

The programme – delivered by Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development (ATEED) as part of Auckland Council’s Youth Connections programme and generously supported by The Tindall Foundation – is designed to help Auckland’s 23,000 young jobseekers (15-24 years) who are not in education, employment or training (NEET).

Auckland Mayor Phil Goff welcomed Trade Me to the programme: “It’s great to join forces with a successful New Zealand business like Trade Me to increase opportunities for the young people of Auckland to find employment.

“We need Auckland to be an inclusive city where all our young people have the opportunity to benefit from being in the workforce. Addressing youth unemployment requires an integrated approach and we will be working closely with Trade Me and our other partners to develop career pathways, education and employment opportunities for young people,” he says.

ATEED chief executive, Brett O’Riley, says: “Youth employment initiatives such as the Youth Employer Pledge programme and JobFest – New Zealand’s largest youth employment event – are having an impact on reducing youth unemployment and we’re committed to getting our young people into jobs.

“Getting more young people into jobs also helps to address a serious skills shortage across sectors such as construction and infrastructure, where ATEED has partnered with industry to deliver the #BuildAKL campaign to attract more young Aucklanders into the thriving industry,” he says.

“To make it easier for young jobseekers to connect with potential employers, Trade Me is today launching a live feed on the #BuildAKL website (www.buildakl.co.nz) to help the campaign attract more than 4,000 young people into the sector during the campaign.”

More than 50,000 people search for a new job on Trade Me every day and Head of Trade Me Jobs, Jeremy Wade, says they’re looking forward to working with Auckland Council, ATEED and Youth Employer Pledge partners.

“As an employer we know the value of hiring young people to inject new ideas and enthusiasm into our work and we want to do our bit to address the challenge of getting young people into jobs.” he says.

“We’ll be keeping Auckland’s young people top of mind when working with our job advertisers and making it as easy as possible to connect with young jobseekers, Jeremy Wade says.

Trade Me brings the total number of pledge partners to 59 spanning a diverse range of industries including  construction and infrastructure, retail, hospitality and food and beverage.

Noted to Editor

• A number of Youth Employer Pledge partners are also involved in supporting The Lion Foundation’s Young Enterprise Scheme, delivered by ATEED in the Auckland region, which gives youth the experience of running a business and the chance to develop their entrepreneurial talent.
• For more info on the Youth Employer Pledge visit aucklandnz.com/business/youth-employer-pledge
• The #BuildAKL campaign aims to address a serious skills shortage within the construction and infrastructure sector by profiling the opportunities available with the journey of 10 young competition winners being followed in their four week rotational work placements via Facebook @buildAKL and on the BuildAKL website, www.buildakl.co.nz.
• JobFest – New Zealand’s largest youth employment event – is also delivered by ATEED and Auckland Council’s Youth Connections www.jobfest.co.nz.
• Since January 2015, Youth Connections has helped more than 5,000 young people become work ready.
• Statistics New Zealand figures, based on analysis of NEET rates and the Household Labour Force Survey, show youth unemployment rates have almost halved, from 21.1 percent to 12.4 percent since late 2010 when the Super City was established.
• Trade Me is the place where Kiwis buy and sell online, and is the leading online marketplace and classified advertising platform in New Zealand. Established in 1999, the core idea of Trade Me is to connect people and businesses, and provide them with the information and tools they need to undertake a transaction. Trade Me was publicly listed on the NZX and ASX in 2011. www.trademe.co.nz/jobs