General Publications
Department of Labour Annual Report 2006
Vote Employment
Output class: Policy, research and evaluation
Description
This output class includes providing advice and information about the labour market and its role in improving employment, social and economic outcomes for New Zealand. This information and advice drives informed action to develop and implement the Government’s strategy to transform the labour market. This contributes to wider strategies such as the Growth and Innovation Framework and Opportunities for All.
This output class contributed to achieving the following medium-term goals:
- Reduced barriers to labour force participation.
- Education and workplace learning support positive employment outcomes, and appropriate skill development and utilisation.
- Global skills and talent are attracted and retained.
- Migrants and refugees settle well and contribute to the economy and social cohesion.
- Our international connections ensure that trade, foreign investment, and skills and knowledge transfer improve the wellbeing of our people.
Activities
Activities carried out included:
- leading policy development and debate on workforce issues, to influence and grow national and international understanding and action. This includes actions to develop, oversee and coordinate the work streams of the Government’s employment and labour strategies
- providing strategic advice on employment and skills, ensuring that policy matches, enhances and drives the achievement of New Zealand’s workforce goals for a transformative labour market
- providing research and analysis of national and international workforces and trends, and the connection between local and international labour markets, to improve understanding, and inform decisions and actions related to employment. Research and evaluation will also be undertaken on the efficacy of different labour market and employment interventions, including the role of active labour market policies
- leading Government initiatives to address skill and labour issues by working with industry groups and key agencies such as the Ministry of Social Development and the Tertiary Education Commission
- ministerial servicing.
Performance information
Results measures
Performance standard
Performance to 30 June 2006
The Minister responsible for employment, and related labour market Ministers, are increasingly satisfied with the quality of the Department’s employment policy advice. The Appendix to this part of the Annual Report sets out the quality standards for policy advice.
The Minister for Social Development and Employment wrote to the Department’s Chief Executive with feedback. The Minister stated that the quality of service provided has improved over the year and will benefit from further gains in capability and culture.
The Minister is satisfied with the quality of the Department’s ministerial servicing.
The Minister for Social Development and Employment wrote to the Department’s Chief Executive with feedback. The Minister stated that ministerial services have sharpened over the year.
The policy development process and resultant advice provided is assessed as high-quality through external and internal review of projects.
The Enhancing Parents’ and Other Carers’ Choices policy process is being externally reviewed. This review of the policy process is not yet complete.
General Publications
Department of Labour Annual Report 2006
The decrease in appropriation of $3.442 million in the Supplementary Estimates was due to:
- a fiscally neutral transfer to the Labour Market Information output expense
- an expenditure transfer to the 2006/07 and 2007/08 financial year for the Skills Action Plan Initiative – Linked Employer-Employee Dataset to enable dataset enhancements over the next three years and staffing constraints, which resulted in work progressing more slowly than anticipated
- an expenditure transfer to the 2006/07 financial year for the Workplace Information Survey due to other commitments by Statistics New Zealand, which delayed development work.
Offset by a fiscally neutral transfer of the allocation of corporate costs and funding for market research to identify the reasons for non-participation in the labour market among those aged 45 years and over.