HARD WORKER: Ryan Aiken has impressed at his apprenticeship with J Swap Contractors in Matamata, but businesses say finding young people like him is hard.

Tradesmen say young people are almost impossible to employ, with bad literacy, numeracy and work ethic high on the list of problems.

Many have given up on advertising for apprentice roles, saying they have no hope of finding suitable applicants.

Ken Monk of Montage Kitchens has been a joiner in Hamilton for 34 years, and sits on the Employer Partnership Group for the manufacturing, construction and the trades at Wintec.

He said problems with literacy, numeracy and attitude were common with hiring young people these days.

Among the issues he'd dealt with were "absenteeism; they don't want to sweep the floor; don't want to clean the toilet".

"I clean the toilet," he said. Young people also expected to get paid much more than was realistic, and tended to "know it all, they don't like to be told".

"Their whole attitude has changed. They've been mothered, they've been spoiled."

The experience backed up a survey out this week from the Employers and Manufacturers Association, which showed that employers rated school-leavers' literacy, numeracy, problem-solving, teamwork and communication skills as "below par". Half of the 322 businesses surveyed were not satisfied with young workers on these skills.

Monk thought the problem started with the parents. "You always want them to do better [than you], and so you actually spoil them a bit. So we actually have a generation of spoiled kids."

Finding good workers was so hard that Monk didn't advertise for apprentices because of all the "filtering out" needed.

"We actually go hunting for the person. Some people do [advertise], but that's not very often either."

However, Monk said employers needed to be realistic about what it took to deal with the current generation.

"We always have issues with young guys . . . but you work with them and, by the time they come out the other end, they're usually really good kids."

Gayelene Woodcock has run Waikato Plumbing Services with her husband since 1986. She said the issue with younger people was becoming more evident now that work was picking up, and experienced plumbers were in short supply, thanks to the Christchurch and Auckland building booms.

Woodcock said the company had to work hard to find youngsters with good attitude, literacy and numeracy skills. The risk of taking on youngsters was high for the family-owned business, which worked on the basis it would make a loss the equivalent of the Jobseeker benefit on an apprentice in the first year, and would only start to make money off them in the third year.

"To be able to teach someone to be a good tradesman requires good maths and good English as well," she said.

"To have to teach them to develop further English, literacy, numeracy skills, it's not feasible. We haven't got the time to continue their educational training . . . that's expecting too much."

Woodcock said the schools weren't helping the situation. The company approached two last year asking for youngsters to be sent out on work experience, and had no response.

"A total lack of support from the schools is probably the starting point," said Woodcock. "It's a damn good opportunity for people not only with get-up-and-go, but with academic ability."

Mike Horsburgh has been in the electrical industry for 18 years, and has spent the past 12 years running Switched on Electrical with a business partner.

He recently noticed work-ethic problems with "young guys" under 20.

"They think they can just come into work, sit down and do nothing, and get paid for it," he said.

"They all think that everything should be handed them on a silver platter."

He said the business didn't advertise for apprentice roles because it was so hard to find good workers among those who applied. Instead, Switched on Electrical went by word of mouth and, on the odd occasion, took on youngsters who approached it for work. Current apprentices were "good keen" guys.

"We don't actively look because there's no point in looking because you're not going to pick up someone who is willing to learn."

When the firm did find a keen young worker, Horsburgh said it would go the extra mile for them.

'I JUST WENT AND ASKED THEM: DO YOU HAVE AN APPRENTICESHIP FOR ME?'

Soon after finishing a trade qualification, Ryan Aiken snapped up a diesel mechanic apprenticeship.

In fact, the 16-year-old Waikato Trades Academy graduate was offered two, but chose to stay in his home town of Matamata.

Last year he won top second-year student in automotive but also proved himself to his employer J Swap Contractors through part-time work while studying. "They sort of knew me and knew I was a good worker. I just went and asked them 'Do you have an apprenticeship for me?'" Aiken said.

He finished his National Certificate in Motor Industries late last year and started working fulltime in December.

Knowing Aiken's work ethic and skill levels meant he was a "good choice" for director Andrew Swap. "He basically put his head down and got on with it."

It normally took about a year to work out how an apprentice would go in the job, Swap said, but he'd already seen Aiken in a part-time work capacity for two years. He was an "all-round good young kid", the kind of person who was hard to find.

Wintec's youth pathways manager Rachel Bowley agreed there was a mixture of talent coming through from schools.

"Schools will send us some of their disengaged students and then they'll send us some of their really engaged and wanting this career path kind of students," she said.

The programme targeted students who didn't have level 2 NCEA, and aimed at getting them ready for further study or a job. Staff kept an eye on their attendance and performance, Bowley said. "We are trying to make them work-ready" and that required workplace consequences. The Ministry of Education sets the bar for success in the course, defined as passing 80 per cent of the available credits each year. At the academy, three quarters of the students achieved that last year and just over 80 per cent did in 2013.

Justin Horrigan of Fairview Educational Services heads a private training institute for the automotive industry out of Hamilton. It has been operating for about 17 years, and supplies automotive teaching resources to 180 schools throughout New Zealand, as well as some in Australia. It also runs short courses for local high-school students looking to get into the industry, many of whom make up the 50-60 students who later come to study their pre-trade qualifications at the establishment. Government funding had helped grow the course, said Horrigan, which now had about 1000 graduates in the industry.

He said there were noticeable issues with younger people coming in to study, but that should be expected.

"We can't forget that they are still very young. There's quite a few of them who have left school and have not completed NCEA English and maths, numeracy and literacy, for whatever reason. It's kind of an important area that we need to help them close."

Horrigan said it paid for bosses to build a relationship with students early on.

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