Nigel Tutt Chief Executive of Priority One

Last week we launched a Future of Work campaign at Priority One.

We are doing this to better educate students and parents on what types of jobs will be created in the future, and the skills that will be needed to get those jobs.

There is a strong need to have a well-connected workforce. We expect the Western Bay of Plenty economy to create about 40,000 additional jobs by 2050, and it is crucial that we maximise the potential of our own community to fill these jobs.

We have a challenge on our hands to do that though. Our population ages over the next 30 years – meaning that while we will have more people in the region, we will have a lower proportion that are of working age. To lessen the need to import more people, we need to use our own first.

That isn't an easy task, and there is a disconnect between what subjects our students take at school and the types of jobs that are being created.

Study gaps – where employment demand is under-served – are in health, education, IT and horticulture. It is a particularly interesting area, with next to no-one studying it at school, yet an increasing demand for it in the workplace. Improving the number of Maori students studying STEM (science, tech, engineering and maths) is also an area of focus – areas that traditionally have an undersupply and will be important in the future.

It is also important to emphasise transferable skills for school leavers such as critical thinking, creativity, communication and resilience. Employers are increasingly looking for those skills in job seekers. In an era where artificial intelligence and automation will become more prevalent, human skills are more important.

I have no doubt there will be a plentiful supply of jobs in the Western Bay in the coming decades, increasing from a pool of about 100,000 to 140,000. Many of those jobs will be high-quality and exciting.

We want, and we need, students from this area to be well placed to take those jobs.

For more in-depth information about the Future of Work, students and parents can visit Priority One on Facebook or Instagram. Also, check out the Canvas Careers expo at Bay Park in late July.