In an unprecedented move, three levels of government, industry partners and the community met on Tuesday to tackle the issue of youth unemployment.
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The Hunter Region Youth Unemployment Symposium was held in Cessnock and targeted a broad range of people with the skills, knowledge, experience and ability to provide input into developing an action plan.
Parliamentary Secretary for the Hunter Scot MacDonald, who addressed the symposium, said there were other big infrastructure projects in the pipeline that would boost employment in the Hunter, including the new $400 million Lower Hunter hospital which would start in this term of the Baird government.
Mr MacDonald said mining would continue to be important, but while the volumes produced and exported would continue to grow, the sector had cut its cost base.
He said the Hunter was well positioned to cash in on growth in the service sector and that health, education, aged care, financial services, retail and tourism would provide job opportunities.
“I also believe the Hunter has competitive advantages in the transport industry having the land, history and transport corridors to support these businesses,” he said.
He said the state has an important role in identifying employment areas that need to be targeted by the vocational education and tertiary education sectors.
“We need to prioritise the infrastructure that will support industry and encourage the community to live in the region.”
He said there also needs to be incentives for businesses such as payroll tax rebates.
“We have to be honest with our youth and our new, young job seekers have to be flexible and need to train for the emerging sectors and be prepared to travel and take on challenges which may mean studying away from home which will probably mean taking employment away from home,” he said.