Utilising a Demand-led Approach in a Local Labour Market

Traditional labour market activation policies have tended to be focused on labour supply and improving the opportunities for new entrants or re-entrants to obtain appropriate paid employment. This emphasis was encouraged in the 1980s and 1990s by shifts in the location and nature of employment (deindustrialisation), growing and persistent levels of unemployment and policy concerns with labour market disadvantage. More recently, the need to ensure international competitiveness, often by minimising local labour costs and enhancing labour flexibility, has been accompanied by a concern amongst employers at the impact of skill shortages. One response has been to shift the policy focus from supply to demand, essentially by seeking to understand the changing nature of local labour demand and by developing appropriate labour market initiatives. This paper analyses the case study provided by a labour market initiative in a regional labour market in New Zealand to assess the utility of such an approach. The Waitakere Employment and Skills Project (WESP) is a collaborative approach to labour demand, involving a number of economic development and local/national government agencies, as well as a university research team (including the author).