Covid-19, the job market and your school leaver.

NZ Business CEO, Kirk Hope, painted a bleak picture seven days ago stating the predicted unemployment rate related to Covid-19 as being 10%.

We have all seen how rapidly this dynamic pandemic and associated effects have changed in the previous weeks, and now those unemployment figures have had an upwards surge.

Current modelling in New Zealand has indicated an unemployment rate of one in four current employees, or 25%, becoming unemployed as a direct result of Covid-19. Hope says, the precarity and uncertainty of the situation means it is unlikely local businesses will be able to pick up where they left off. What does this mean for our year 13 students?

Each year, approximately 60,000 students will leave secondary education, with 61.2% of those students seeking higher education in the tertiary system. Consequently, in 2020, approximately 23,280 individuals will leave the school system looking for employment.

If there is no further change to current unemployment modelling, and if we do indeed experience a further unemployment rate of 25%, then what does this mean for the job market.

Based on Stats NZ employment figures of 2,648,000 individuals employed in the December quartile, the job market will see an influx of an additional 662,000 job seekers. The newly unemployed will be fighting for some of those same roles that our school leavers are.

Now is a good time to make plans for the 2021 year with your year 13 or year 12 school leaver. New Zealand has a “Free Fees” policy, where students can get one year of tertiary study or two years' training up to the value of $12,000. Not all students are suited for the tertiary system but options to extend study into the tertiary system could be well worth your consideration given how competitive the job market could become.