• Happy and confident
• Supportive relationships
• Healthy
• Education and training
• Meaningful employment
  • Employment
  • Unemployment
  • Inactivity
  • Benefit receipt
  • Hourly earnings
• Economically secure
• Recreation and leisure
• Safe
• Active citizens

Moving towards meaningful employment

Desired outcome

Young people are moving towards meaningful employment and long-term economic independence.  Young people have access to paid work that gives them a sense of purpose and provides opportunities for further development.

Relevance

Paid work plays an important role in social wellbeing. For many young people, especially those who no longer live with family, income from paid work is a major factor affecting their standard of living. Income derived from paid work provides a degree of financial independence and contributes to meeting basic needs, accumulating material goods and/or allowing young people to save for the future. 

Earnings from paid work also affect young people’s ability to socialise, to engage in recreational or other activities, and to undertake study or travel of their choice. 

A job that is well-matched to a young person’s skills and abilities contributes to personal development and life-satisfaction.  Employment also serves as a source of social contact and provides opportunities for socialising with others, building friendships and expanding social networks.  Unemployment is associated with poorer mental and physical health and lower levels of life satisfaction.(1)

Young people are a vulnerable group in the labour market due to their lack of skills and limited experience compared to older age groups. While being spending short spells of time “in between jobs” may not have lasting consequences, there is growing evidence that early and prolonged periods of unemployment can have a negative impact on young people’s wellbeing, their job prospects and risk of long-term benefit dependence.(2)

Indicators

Indicators in this section focus on access to employment and the economic returns to paid work.

The first indicator is the employment rate.  This indicator measures the proportion of young people aged 15 to 24 that are employed in paid work for one hour or more a week.  The second indicator is the unemployment rate.  This is a key indicator of access to employment.  The unemployment rate measures the proportion of people who are out of work and actively seeking and available to take up paid work.

The employment and unemployment rates are affected by a range of factors, including economic conditions, migration flows, people’s qualification levels and skills and individuals’ decisions about whether or not to engage in paid work. In the youth age group in particular patterns of employment are affected by participation rates in post-compulsory education. 

A significant proportion of youth who are not in paid work are engaged in study or other activities that make a positive contribution to their future wellbeing.  Those who are not engaged in one of these activities are seen as most at risk of poor outcomes.  The third indicator, youth inactivity, is the proportion of young people aged 15 to 24 who are not in employment, education or training, or engaged in care-giving duties. 

The fourth indicator reports on young people aged 16 to 24 who are in receipt of benefit.  Reliance on social assistance as a main source of income is associated with low living standards and is a risk factor for future economic security and wellbeing.

The final indicator in this section reports on median hourly earnings.  This indicator highlights changes in the financial returns to paid work within the youth age group.

Use the links on the left to explore the indicators in this domain.

Notes

1. Richardson, S. and Miller-Lewis, L. (2002).  Low Wage Jobs and Pathways to Better Outcomes. New Zealand Treasury Working Paper 02/29.

2. Ibid; see also OECD (2007), Jobs For Youth: New Zealand.