The chair of a mayors' group that aims to increase youth employment says a holistic approach is needed to get more Maori into work.
The Mayors Taskforce for Jobs is working with the Government to create an initiative that has a particular focus on securing jobs for young Maori.
Chair Otorohanga mayor Dale Williams said the taskforce is taking examples from an Australian scheme to get Aboriginal people into work.
He said young people struggle to learn or stay in employment training if they have barriers in place at home, such as overcrowding or bad influences, and Australia's scheme deals with those barriers holistically.
Mr Williams said a person's home life, education, driver licensing and computer literacy are assessed and issues are addressed before putting an individual into training.
