The Government’s investment in helping young people into jobs has been welcomed by Limited Service Volunteers programme patron and Chief Executive of Master Plumbers and Masterlink, Fiona Gavriel.

“Trades such as plumbing, gasfitting and drainlaying offer a bright future for many young New Zealanders, and this investment will help them take those opportunities,” says Ms Gavriel.

As Patron of the current six week LSV programme at Trentham, Ms Gavriel attended this morning’s announcement by Prime Minister John Key and Social Development and Employment Minister Paula Bennett.

“The LSV programme makes a difference for young people who currently lack the skills and motivation to find employment. It is great to see the Government committing ongoing funding.”

Ms Gavriel also welcomed the announcement of the Job Ops with Training programme, which provides a subsidy for employers to hire and train young workers.

“We will be looking at whether this will help us increase the number of young people training in our industry,” Ms Gavriel says.

“We need more skilled and licensed plumbers to take on apprentices.”

Master Plumbers either employ apprentices directly or through the organisation’s Masterlink apprenticeship programme.

“Masterlink works by taking away the hassles of having an apprentice. We employ the apprentices and manage the whole process. Apprentices are ‘seconded’ to host businesses, who only pay for the time they work. The scheme was set up six years ago by Master Plumbers to encourage young people into our industry, as well as raise the success rate of apprentice training. Masterlink has close to 200 apprentices in training at the moment.

“Apprentice numbers are down, largely because of the impact of the tight economy on plumbing businesses, but demand for tradespeople is predicted to increase, as the Christchurch rebuild and leaky home repairs get underway.”

“We welcome the Government’s investment in helping young people gain the skills and confidence that will help them through their training and in to real jobs,” says Ms Gavriel.

ENDS

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