A Labor Government will invest $68.6 million over the next four years to deliver Local Jobs for Local People. This program will connect people in disadvantaged communities with work and training, while also tackling the complex social and local issues that can keep Australians from getting a job.

Local Jobs for Local People will operate in up to 20 Communities of Opportunity across Australia – areas with high employment needs and other challenges such as low educational attainment or multigenerational disadvantage 

Labor believes that no matter where you live, you should have the same opportunities for a good job and a decent life as any other Australian.

We won’t let unemployment and disadvantage persist in some parts of this country while Australia continues to grow more prosperous overall.

Each local program will be driven by a Local Jobs for Local People Community Board made up of a coordinator and representatives from key local groups such as the Chamber of Commerce, local council, community services, education and training providers and representative bodies.

Local Jobs for Local People coordinators will work with the board to deliver a range of initiatives to match jobseekers to work or training and build capacity in their local communities.

This will include:

• Working with business and other employers to develop current and future skills need lists so that jobseekers can be directed to training which matches the needs of local employers.
• Identifying emerging employment and training opportunities which suit the skills and capabilities of local job seekers.
• Organising jobs expos to connect job seekers with career advisers, employers, education and training providers.
• Coordinating workplace mentorship and transition-to-work opportunities for school students.
• Working with the community to identify social and economic issues which hold back workforce engagement and entrench disadvantage, and developing Community Development Action Plans that identify local initiatives to support young people, individuals and families through vulnerable life transition points such as becoming unemployed or moving from school into the workforce. 

Labor will also create a Working Communities Fund for local initiatives in Local Jobs for Local People Communities that tackle the causes of disadvantage and support Australians into local jobs.

For example, in some places young parents struggle to enter the workforce because of a lack of affordable and accessible child care services. In other communities, low levels of English language and literacy can create barriers to undertaking work-related training.

The program coordinators will work with their communities to identify local solutions to these kinds of challenges, and apply for funding to run these through the Working Communities Fund.

Our approach builds on the successful Local Employment Coordinator model delivered when Labor was last in government. Local Jobs for Local People will also strengthen the existing JobActive and Youth Employment Strategy services in communities facing the highest obstacles to employment.

The Liberals’ only answer to persistent unemployment is to make jobseekers suffer even more. This is a Government that wants to make people under 30 wait one month without any income before being able to access Newstart, and force jobseekers to apply for 40 jobs a month even when no-one is hiring.

Labor won’t leave unemployed Australians in disadvantaged communities out on their own like the Liberals.

Our plan will bring employers, training organisations and service providers together to bring down the unacceptably high rates of unemployment in some parts of Australia and help these communities thrive again.

Read more about Labor’s positive plan to help more locals into work at: http://100positivepolicies.org.au/local_jobs_for_local_people_fact_sheet

THURSDAY 16 JUNE 2016