Agenda of Employment and Economic Development Policy Committee

Employment and Economic Development Policy Committee 1 August 2017

2.1 Minutes of the Sister Cities Community Committee Meeting - 12 July 2017

TRIM REFERENCE: 2017/1618

AUTHOR: Kathy Woolley, Director Corporate and Commercial Services

EXECUTIVE Summary

The Sister Cities Community Committee met on 12 July 2017 but did not have a quorum. A record of the meeting is presented to the Employment and Economic Development Policy Committee for information.

Link To Delivery/OPerational Plan

The recommendation in this report relates to the Delivery/Operational Plan strategy “4.1 Our City – Continue to deliver a leadership role as a major entity in the region and actively contribute to the future direction of local, regional and national initiatives to support and facilitate improved outcomes for the community”.

Financial Implications

Nil

Policy and Governance Implications

Nil

Recommendation

That, as there was not a quorum, Council note the recommendations made by the Sister Cities Community Committee at its meeting held on 12 July 2017.

further considerations

Consideration has been given to the recommendation’s impact on Council’s service delivery; image and reputation; political; environmental; health and safety; employees; stakeholders and project management; and no further implications or risks have been identified.

SUPPORTING INFORMATION

The minutes identify that there has been discussion on a return visit to Mt Hagan by planning staff to update the documents produced on earlier visits. There would need to be a budget adjustment made to accommodate this excursion as no funds currently exist for this project. The Committee has noted that the visit should be deferred at this time however. When more certainty is available, a budget adjustment via a quarterly review process can be presented to Council for consideration. In previous years funding had been available to offset costs of such trips.

Attachments

1 Minutes of the Meeting of the Sister Cities Community Committee held on 12 July 2017

ORANGE CITY COUNCIL

MINUTES OF THE

Sister Cities Community Committee

HELD IN Councillors Workroom, Civic Centre, Byng Street, Orange

ON 12 July 2017

COMMENCING AT 5.30pm

1 Introduction

Attendance

Cr C Gryllis (Chairperson), Mr G Bargwanna, Mr G Bloore, Communications Officer (Allan Reeder)

1.1 Apologies and Leave of Absence

RECOMMENDATION Mr G Bloore/Mrs M Bargwanna

That the apologies be accepted from Ms Shirie Pirie and Mrs Kerrie Ferguson for the Sister Cities Community Committee meeting on 12 July 2017.

As there was not a quorum, the members present decided to discuss the agenda and refer the following record of the meeting for recommendation at the next Sister Cities Community Committee meeting in the next term of Council.

1.2 Acknowledgement of Country

1.3 Declaration of pecuniary interests, significant non-pecuniary interests and less than significant non-pecuniary interests

2 Previous Minutes

RECOMMENDATION Mr G Bargwanna/Cr C Gryllis

That the minutes of the meetings of the Sister Cities Community Commitee held on 10 February 2016, 11 May 2016, 10 August 2016 and 15 March 2017 (copies of which were circulated to all members), are hereby confirmed as a true and accurate record of the proceedings of the Sister Cities Community Committee held on 10 February 2016, 11 May 2016, 10 August 2016 and 15 March 2017 (noting these meetings did not have a quorum).

3 Presentations

3.1 Update on Ushiku

TRIM Reference: 2017/1460

The meeting noted that there had not been any school exchange visits since the March meeting, and that preliminary planning had begun for the next Japanese Speaking compeition.

A former winner of the contest had made contact seeking Council support for a proposed internship in Ushiku, and that more information has been asked sought.

The meeting noted that the Orange Anglican Grammar Scjpp; had expressed interest in becoming involved in exchange visits with Ushiku and proposed discussions with organisers at Canobolas Rural Technology High School.

RECOMMENDATION Cr C Gryllis/Mr G Bargwanna

That the presentation on Ushiku be acknowledged.

3.2 Update on Mt Hagen

TRIM Reference: 2017/1461

The meeting noted that the recent visit of two trainees had been very successful. The Chairperson thanked Mr Jeff Hort for his enthusiasm and patience over many years which had seen the project through.

The meeting noted that advice had been received from Mt Hagen that the planned visit by planning staff from Orange to assist with the review of key planning documents, should be held after the current round of PNG elections.

RECOMMENDATION Cr C Gryllis/Mr G Bargwanna

That the presentation on Mt Hagen be acknowledged.

3.3 Update on Orange (California)

TRIM Reference: 2017/1462

No update provided.

3.4 Update on Timaru

TRIM Reference: 2017/1463

No update provided.

3.5 Update on Valpariso

TRIM Reference: 2017/1464

No update provided.

3.6 Update on Seo-Gu

TRIM Reference: 2017/1465

No update provided.

4 General Reports

4.1 Sister Cities Community Committee Action List update

TRIM Reference: 2017/1466

Recommendation Cr C Gryllis/Mr G Bloore

That the Action List for the Sister Cities Community Committee be reviewed and updated.

The Meeting Closed at 6.00 PM.

Employment and Economic Development Policy Committee 1 August 2017

3 General Reports

3.1 Youth Unemployment

TRIM REFERENCE: 2017/1363

AUTHOR: Tony Boland, Business Projects Officer

EXECUTIVE Summary

At the Council meeting held on 6 June 2017 a question was taken on notice requesting staff provide information on youth unemployment figures for Orange.

Link To Delivery/OPerational Plan

The recommendation in this report relates to the Delivery/Operational Plan strategy “11.1 Our Economy – Encourage the growth of local business, support emerging industry sectors and attract new investment to Orange”.

Financial Implications

Nil

Policy and Governance Implications

Nil

Recommendation

That the report on Youth Unemployment be acknowledged.

further considerations

SUPPORTING INFORMATION

Youth unemployment generally refers to people aged 15 to 24 years, but may apply to any age cohort within this span. On this basis, the supporting information section of this report further quantifies the youth unemployment data into 15-19 year olds and 20-24 year olds.

Youth unemployment for an individual location or Local Government Area is only calculated at a Census of Population and Housing. The unemployment data for the 2016 Census will not be released until October 2017. This means the most reliable source of data on a Local Government Area basis is the 2011 Census.

At the time of the 2011 Census, the youth unemployment rate for the Orange Local Government Area was 10.1%.

The youth unemployment rate is calculated by taking the number of unemployed people in this age group who are actively seeking work and dividing by the number of people in the workforce in this age group. People in full time school, TAFE and University are not considered to be actively seeking work or in the workforce and therefore are not part of the count for the purposes of youth unemployment.

The youth unemployment figures for the 2011 Census are:

Age	Sex	Labour Force	Unemployed People	UE rate
	Male	660	91	13.9%
15-19	Female	688	85	12.4%
	TOTAL	1348	176	13.1%
	Male	1032	80	7.5%
20-24	Female	852	72	8.5%
	TOTAL	1886	152	8.1%
	Male	1692	171	10.1%
15-24	Female	1540	157	10.2%
	TOTAL	3234	328	10.1%

Youth Unemployment figures are usually calculated on a National, State or Statistical Area Level 4 (see map). Trends at any of these levels may or may not reflect what is happening at the local government level, but it is not possible to confirm this outside a Census report.

The Central West Statistical Area Level 4 (SA4) is pictured above. The area is similar to that of the Centroc region and includes the additional LGAs of Bland and Mid Western Region, but does not include Hilltops or Upper Lachlan.

As the geography is broad and there are a number of larger labour markets within the SA4, the reliability of the youth unemployment rate at the SA4 level is significantly diminished.

The youth unemployment data (15 – 24 years) for the Central West SA4 is below.

Source: ABS Cat 6291.0.55.001 Labour Force, Australia, Detailed.

The youth unemployment rate for the Orange LGA at the 2011 Census was 10.1%. The Census was held on 9 August 2011. The Central West SA4 youth unemployment rate for August 2011 was 14.4%. As can be observed from the graph above, the youth unemployment rate fluctuates significantly for the Central West SA4. It is also not possible to draw a direct correlation between the Orange LGA and the Central West SA4. For example, the difference between the Census data and the SA4 data was 4.3%. This does not mean that Orange is always 4.3% under the SA4 rate as evidenced in the April 2012 SA4 figures of 3.5%. To take 4.3 percentage points of those figures would create a negative number, which is not possible for unemployment measurement.

In a report produced by Department of Employment (ABS Labour Force Survey, May 2017), Youth Unemployment percentages across NSW are:

Area	Youth Unemployment Rate 15 to 24 years
Central Coast	17.1%
Capital Region	10.5%
Central West	11.9%
Far West and Orana	13.2%
Illawarra	13.2%
Murray	12.4%
New England and North West	14.3%
Riverina	15.4%

The Capital Region and Central West currently have the lowest youth unemployment percentage.

Source: ABS Cat 6291.0.55.001 Labour Force, Australia, Detailed.

The graph measures the youth unemployment rate for the Central West, NSW excluding Sydney (Rest of NSW) and NSW. There are 14 regional SA4 and 14 Sydney based SA4. Any changes in the Central West SA4 will have more effect on the Rest of NSW than it will on the NSW result.

The trend for the Rest of NSW is relatively similar to that of NSW. However, the youth unemployment rate for the Central West SA4 does not consistently follow the trends of that of Rest of NSW or NSW and the fluctuations in the Central West rate are more pronounced.

Youth unemployment traditionally has a spike in January which correlates with people leaving school and not securing a job immediately. This can be seen in both the NSW and the Rest of NSW results. The results for these two sets of data also observe a spike in October each year, usually followed by a sharp decrease in youth unemployment. This trend aligns with students completing university studies in October and being unemployed and subsequently finding employment in November.

The results for the Central West SA4 are not as consistent as the Rest of NSW or NSW results. The Central West results vary from a low of 3.5% (April 2012) to a high of 29.9% (May 2015). In contrast, the NSW results have a low of 9.6% (July 2011) and a high of 13.9% (January 2015). The Central West SA4 results often show rising youth unemployment when the Rest of NSW and NSW indicate declining unemployment.

The collection method of data obtained for the purposes of measuring youth unemployment on a national, state or regional basis is not suitable for a smaller geography such as an LGA as it is statistically unreliable. As can be seen from the previous chart, the smaller the geography, the more pronounced the fluctuations tend to be. The Census results (due in October) will give the best indication of the Orange LGA youth unemployment rate.

The final chart compares the youth unemployment rate with the total unemployment rate for the Central West SA4. They are in turn compared with the total unemployment rate for Orange LGA. The SA4 data is released on a monthly basis and the LGA data is released on a quarterly basis. The chart shows that there is some correlation between the total unemployment and the youth unemployment on an SA4 basis, however the fluctuations in the youth unemployment are more pronounced in both growth and decline. There is no significant correlation between the SA4 data and the trend for the Orange LGA.

In a report produced by the NSW Business Chamber, titled a Workforce Skills Survey on Youth Employment noted that youth unemployment in Australia is a growing problem. The report showed that businesses are prepared to provide young people with their first start in the workforce (42.5%); however respondents of the survey reported a lack of skills (25.7%) and necessary qualifications (11.2%) as the main reasons for not hiring a young person. The level of education completed by young people showed 56.6% high school only, 22.6% vocational qualification (ie: Cert ll, lll or Diploma), 17.7% bachelor degree and 3.2% postgraduate degree.

The report stated the need to improve school to work transitions for young people, to build their employability, preparations for work, attitude/personality/motivation, skill development, literacy/ numeracy and common sense to strengthen their foundation skills required to enter and stay in the workforce.

The NSW Business Chamber is also undertaking research on “Laying the Foundations for Apprenticeship Reform”. The research to date has identified prioritising work readiness training, boosting incentives for the early stages, and targeting employer support as strategies that will help build employer confidence and encourage them to create opportunities for young people looking for a start.

Employment and Economic Development Policy Committee 1 August 2017

3.2 Quarterly Update on Unemployment Rates

TRIM REFERENCE: 2017/1424

AUTHOR: Tony Boland, Business Projects Officer

EXECUTIVE Summary

Small Area Labour Market (SALM) data for the March 2017 quarter is presented for information.

Link To Delivery/OPerational Plan

Financial Implications

Nil

Policy and Governance Implications

Nil

Recommendation

That the report on the unemployment figures for Orange be acknowledged.

further considerations

The recommendation of this report has been assessed against Council’s other key risk categories and the following comments are provided:

Service Delivery

The data provided within this report is also provided to companies looking for assistance with information as well as being used by staff in submissions.

SUPPORTING INFORMATION

The figures are published on a quarterly basis by the Department of Employment in the Small Area Labour Markets publication https://www.employment.gov.au/small-area-labour-markets-publication.

The SALM data is released by the Department of Employment three to four months after the end of the quarter. The most recent data available is for the quarter ending 31 March 2017. The data in this report is on a Local Government Area basis in the first section and then on a city by city (SA2) basis for the second half of the report. There is additional information on SA2 geography.

Measurement – Orange LGA	March Quarter 2017
Labour force	22,405
Unemployed persons	1,056
Unemployment rate – March 2017	4.7%

The unemployment rate for the Orange LGA was 5.8% in the March 2016 quarter. The Department of Employment cautions consideration of quarter on quarter comparison due to the volatility of the data. It recommends analysis on year to year basis.

A comparison of the Orange LGA results in the March 2017 quarter to other LGAs is shown in the table below (noting this relates to the LGAs as they were in March 2017):

LGA	UE rate – Dec 2016	LGA	UE rate –Dec 2016
Albury	6.5%	Lithgow	6.6%
Armidale	6.7%	Maitland	4.5%
Bathurst	4.2%	Mid-Western	5.4%
Blayney	4.0%	Oberon	4.0%
Cabonne	2.9%	Orange	4.7%
Coffs Harbour	5.8%	Parkes	6.9%
Cowra	6.7%	Port Macquarie	4.4%
Forbes	4.4%	Tamworth	6.7%
Griffith	4.3%	Wagga Wagga	4.6%
Hilltops +	5.8%	Western Plains+	3.7%
		NSW	5.2%

+ Dubbo and Young Councils were amalgamated with other Councils to form new merged entities.
Previous reports have reported the Dubbo and Young unemployment rate.

The SALM data has been measured for over 30 years. This information has been provided on a geographic basis where the boundaries match the appropriate Local Government Area. The graphs in the first section below depict the historical data for the Orange LGA.

Labour Force

The labour force is the number of persons aged over 15 years with the exclusion of certain persons, including those in permanent defence force positions, overseas residents in Australia and some diplomatic roles. The labour force is the number of non-excluded people who are working or actively looking for work, so the labour force figure includes people who are unemployed.

For Orange LGA, the graph below displays a peak in the labour force in March 2011 which coincided with a significant number of construction projects including Cadia East, CSU and new hospital by the Orange Health Service.

The period from December 2013 to September 2014 includes a significant number of people who relocated for the purposes of the Cadia East construction project and Orange Airport Development. This is reflected within our population statistics. September 2014 saw the completion of the last of these projects, with the conclusion of the Cadia East construction.

From September 2014 to June 2015 there was a significant reduction in the labour force. This was potentially linked to jobseeker confidence in the light of the scaling back of Electrolux operations. Jobseeker confidence and jobs have recovered well for the labour force to be at an all-time high in June 2016 and still only slightly less than that in the March 2017 quarter.

Unemployed persons

The number of unemployed persons in Orange LGA has traditionally been less than 1,000 persons.

The 1,000 person ‘barrier’ was broken after September 2012 quarter. This coincided with the completion of a number of large projects. The number of unemployed continued to climb quarter on quarter (with the exception of March and June 2014) until a peak of 1,504 was realised in September 2015 quarter. The current number of unemployed is 1,056.

Unemployment rate

The unemployment rate has historically been relatively conservative in the 4-5 per cent range. The unemployment rate peaked in September 2015 at 7.0%. This quarter coincided with a significant number of retrenchments from Electrolux and the reduction of contractors at Cadia Valley Operations.

Employed persons

The figure for employed persons is not reported by the Department of Employment but is derived by taking the unemployed persons out of the labour force. The December 2016 quarter saw a slight drop from the highest ever level of people in employment (21,724 people) achieved in Orange. This figure is higher than the number of people employed at any time during the major construction projects or in the mining boom.

City to City Comparisons

It has become increasingly unreliable to do city to city comparisons using LGA boundaries as a number of Local Government Areas are now merged, and therefore increase in geographic and population size. The Department of Employment now releases employment data using the Australian Statistical Geography Standard Statistical Area Level 2 geography. This allows data to be closely matched to the geography of a city as well as a Local Government Area.

By matching to the geography of a city, direct comparisons can be made between each city’s labour market rather than guessing how much of the LGA data is attributable to the city and how much is attributable to villages and rural communities.

To help put the city based employment data in context, it is useful to gain an understanding of each city’s population. The table below shows the estimated residential population for the year ending June 30 for each of the cities.

	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
Orange City	36,988	37,785	38,523	39,208	39,741	40,075	40,582
Bathurst City	33,328	33,754	34,203	34,855	35,369	36,013	36,701
Dubbo City	35,056	35,281	35,701	36,073	36,599	36,941	37,245

The Labour Force for the three cities is contained in the following graph. Of note, the lines denoting the Orange and Bathurst labour force almost run parallel over the entire period. Orange has consistently had a workforce of around 2,000 more people than Bathurst. This is consistent with having around an extra 4,000 residents in Orange compared to Bathurst.

It is interesting to note in the following two graphs that the unemployed persons and the unemployed rate for Orange and Bathurst follow a similar trend while the unemployed persons and rate for Dubbo trends differently. Some of the similarity in the Orange and Bathurst trends could be apportioned to the relatively close geographic positioning of the two cities to each other, allowing flexibility of people to move between the two labour markets for work. This would help to counter individual city labour market peaks and troughs in Bathurst and Orange.

The figure for employed persons is not reported by the Department of Employment but is derived by taking the number of unemployed persons out of the labour force figure. The graph below shows Orange has around 2,500 more jobs than either Bathurst or Dubbo in December 2016.

Employment and Economic Development Policy Committee 1 August 2017

3.3 Employment of Apprentices/Trainees/Cadets at Orange City Council

TRIM REFERENCE: 2017/1569

AUTHOR: Michael Ridge, Manager Human Resources

EXECUTIVE Summary

This report provides an overview of Council’s employment of apprentices, trainees and cadets for Council’s information. Councillors have asked about the number of cadets/apprentices/trainees in various meetings and briefings.

Link To Delivery/OPerational Plan

The recommendation in this report relates to the Delivery/Operational Plan strategy “1.3 Our City - Ensure a robust framework that supports the community’s and Council’s current and evolving activities, services and functions”.

Financial Implications

Nil

Policy and Governance Implications

Nil

Recommendation

That the report on the employment of apprentices/trainees and cadets at Orange City Council be acknowledged.

further considerations

SUPPORTING INFORMATION

Orange City Council has long supported the employment of apprentices, trainees and cadets across its operations. The employment of trainees provides benefits to both the trainee and to Council including the ability to develop employees in areas of skill shortages.

Council currently has 21 trainee positions in the organisational structure including:

· 2 Horticulture trainees (City Presentation)

· 2 Horticulture apprentices (City Presentation)

· 3 trainee Diploma Trained Educator (Community Services)

· Trainee Drafting Officer (Engineering Services)

· Apprentice Mechanic (Plant and Depot)

· Apprentice Electrician (Water and Sewer)

· Apprentice Plumber (Water and Sewer)

· Apprentice Carpenter (Building Maintenance)

· Apprentice Electrician (Building Maintenance)

· Trainee Ranger (Building and Environment)

· 3 trainee Aboriginal Environmental Health Officer (Building and Environment)

· Cadet Engineer (Water and Sewer) – commencing in 2017/18

· Administration Trainee (Administration and Governance) – commencing in 2017/18

· Two cadet Accountant (Financial Services)

These 21 positions represent 5.3% of Council’s total full time positions.

Some of these positions are currently vacant due to resignations. They are traditionally recruited towards the end of the year as students start courses.

In addition to the above, Council has committed to engaging a further Cadet Engineer through Charles Sturt University new School of Engineering, each year with the aim of recruiting three of the CSU students. The first cadet engineer through this program commenced on 3 July 2017.

At recruitment, it is made clear to applicants that the position is for the term of their apprenticeship/cadetship or traineeship.

As the end of these terms is approaching, managers assess the operational need with regard to the trainee/cadet/apprentice position to determine if a new recruitment is to be made. The manager then considers the salary needs in preparing their budget submissions.

Council has engaged locally based firm Skillset for a significant period of time to host (employ) apprentice roles. Skillset is a not for profit organisation with Orange City Council being a member. Skillset’s role is to provide group training support including recruitment, support of apprentice, vocational training compliance, host advice, human resources and payroll services. Council also runs recruitment processes for other trainee/cadet roles through its recruitment processes.