ABSTRACT
In March 1977 the line charting official unemployment statistics in New Zealand began its ragged but steep ascent from a figure of just over 4000 out of work in that month to 78,170 registered unemployed in December 1986. In addition to the registered unemployed in December 1986, there were 26,777 people on state-subsidized employment and training schemes (Department of Labour, 1987). State-sponsored training programmes for young people (such as YPTP, STEPS, JETS, TAP, LINKS, ACCESS and MACCESS) in secondary schools, polytechnics and private enterprise have been a direct response to this collapse of the youth labour market in New Zealand (Barry, c.1984, p. 9). As a form of educational intervention, these programmes are legitimated on the grounds that they provide skills for young people which effectively increase their opportunities for access to the labour market. This legitimation is derived from a set of theoretical assumptions, based on orthodox economic theories, about the nature of the labour market and its relationship to the state and to education. Young people are said to be unable to compete effectively in the labour market when there is an excess supply of labour because they lack the attributes that employers prefer when they buy labour: youth is seen to be inexperienced, unskilled, unstable and often lacking sufficient educational qualification and, particularly, good work habits. Fewer available jobs and, therefore, a buyer's market for labour, ensure that young people must compete for work with more experienced, skilled, stable and qualified labour. Because of their lack of maturity and the absence of effective careers education, young people are said to be unaware of potential job opportunities and are particularly ineffective in seeking these out. 'Last-on, first-off trade union policies are considered to disadvantage young people who tend to be last-on', and negotiated award rates of pay and minimum wage scales are said to prevent employers from hiring young people – it is too expensive for them to pay adult wages for less productive labour. It is argued that reduced recruitment in a recession means that fewer school leavers are able to get a first job which would give them work experience
and skills. An extended and changing technology demands a more flexible and better educated workforce than previously – it is claimed that young people are not being adequately served by the education system in this respect. Demographic factors and the increased participation of married women in the labour market have also disadvantaged young people according to this theory. In addition, it is argued that young people's dependent status (within families, for example) means that they require less income than other members of the workforce and can choose to indulge a preference for leisure (unemployment).
