Introduction

Over the past 10 years, the Nagambie region has been growing through the expansion of many local industries and people moving to rural lifestyles away from the cities.

Nagambie is well placed with its proximity to Melbourne, beautiful natural and productive environment. With growing industry and community comes significant long-term employment opportunities across many sectors such as tourism, hospitality, health, wine production, equine and mining. Local businesses are highlighting the need to employ local people, develop the skills within the community and to attract young people to stay or come to Nagambie.

Go Nagambie has responded by initiating the Nagambie Youth Futures Project that seeks to:

• Understand the Nagambie labour market and business requirements and challenges;

• Foster business and young people benefiting from future employment opportunities;

• Support local young people to realise their career aspirations and pathways locally.

To enhance connecting with young people, Go Nagambie has linked with the Rural Inspire Youth

Ambassador Program (RIYAP) to assist in creating awareness of local employment and career opportunities and connecting local businesses and schools. RIYAP is concurrently undertaking the listening to young people; supporting their aspirations and leadership; and facilitating the forums and ways to connect young people to business.

This report provides evidence and recommendations to assist Go Nagambie and RIYAP in developing a regional response to improve young people’s career pathways locally and address skill shortages in the regional labour market. The RIYAP gathered youth voice will feed into the second stage of this project.

This report presents insights into Nagambie’s labour market and an approach to lifting young peoples’ aspirations to work locally. Given Nagambie has no local secondary school or TAFE, a young people’s enabling organisation(s) and networks are needed to communicate and link young people to local business. Working together across business, schools, TAFE, governments and young people is essential over the longer term.

Skills development remains a critical challenge for businesses and young people in Nagambie –linkage to government initiatives such as fee free TAFE places and Rural Inspire Youth Ambassador Program (RIYAP) are timely opportunities.

Context Background

Over the past 100 years with the improvements in technology and production, employment in agriculture has dramatically declined while employment in the services sector continues to grow (8 out of 10 workers are in the services)i. Australia is experiencing other transformative changes to meet net zero emissions reduction targets by 2050; and impact of digital technology on the provision of goods and services and connectivity. Australia’s ageing workforce also requires business and governments to invest in developing a dynamic, skilled next generation labour market.

A foundation of future prosperity is investing and better utilising of our workforce. The recent National Jobs and Skills Summit points the way with actions to build a bigger, better trained and more productive workforce. Addressing skills shortages and growing our productivity means improving women’s participation and equality in the labour market; and reducing the barriers to employment.ii The Summit’s key take-aways for Nagambie are:

• Additional fee-free TAFE places and mirco-credentials to support work-based learning;

• Support for apprenticeships

• Increase the Permanent Migration program

• Policies to address regional labour shortages and access of small business to skilled migration

• Provision of high-quality, low-cost early education and care

• Changes to the Fair Work Act to create simple, fair and flexible framework

• Solutions to better skill, attract, protect and retain agricultural workers.

Regional Communities

Regional Australia is transforming itself through fostering its competitive advantage, looking to future economic opportunities and trends. The changing industries, technology and the environment require significant investment. To achieve this structural change at the local level, the workforce requires skills development, competitive wages and conditions and local infrastructure such as supply of housing, services and transport. Without a collaborative approach opportunity will be lost.

In the past 2 years, a significant trend is city-dwellers moving to the country regions and regional people choosing to stay.iii In particular, the strong investment across a range of regional industries has led to millennials and Gen Xers moving out of the capital cities for life/ work balance and housing affordability1.

There are 5 key aspects promoting the ‘liveability in the country”:

1. Housing affordability

2. Cost of living

3. Health services

4. Community connection

5. Employment opportunities

Regional Victoria’s strong economic growth has absorbed the local skill base; highlighted the disparities in the labour market; and reduced rural migration to the cities. Regional Victoria is experiencing significant increase in job vacancies particularly in professional, technical and trade and community and personnel servicesiv. However, the limited entry level job opportunities for young people, businesses capacity to provide training other than on the job is leading to continuing skill shortages and job vacancies.

With skills shortages continuing, businesses need to invest in new equipment and processes to deliver goods and services.v and expand the pool of employees. Some solutions are to expand take in and training of younger people, people with a disability, First Nations people, unemployed and older workers.

Young people

Young people continue to struggle in the labour market. Schools need to look at how better to prepare young people for their lives vi; gain support from parents/carers; and access local networks. Key initiatives are professional career counselling, transitional support and workplace experience which enable young people to realise their aspirations, potential and connection to the labour market.vii Career confusion and limited diversity in vocational learning and employment opportunities can lead to young people being at risk or disconnecting from work; or moving away from home to gain experience and life skills.

To ensure young people are developing the skills, capabilities to thrive requires enabling organisations and networks that are;

• Focussed and collaborative partnerships at the local level involving schools, industry, business, governments, community organisations, community, young people and their families;

• Peer support networks within schools, TAFE, local communitiesviii

In regional Victoria, young people are experiencing a different and changing labour market. Young people may not have casual jobs while at school; limited access to work experience and/or career counselling. Many young people start looking for their first job once they complete school. Young people are facing reduced availability of entry level jobs; reduced opportunity to gain local training to meet local jobs needs; loss of jobs to digital technology and mechanisation and the structural change away from agricultural industries towards service industries. ix