Revisiting zombie towns: The truth about jobs in the provinces

There are more jobs in the provinces than I realised, despite many high profile closures. And I met local business owners for whom it's more than just business.There is a myth that there are no jobs in the provinces. There are, but there are also closures, low pay and a lot of young people not working.I met Andrew Dobbs on what was meant to be his last shift at the Tokoroa plywood mill. "Most of us have been through more than one restructure. Once it's proposed, we know it's all but a certainty." Nine months on, he is still there on a temporary basis.When there are jobs within driving distance, a closure is less likely to mean mass unemployment and more likely to mean lower incomes. In isolated places, when a big plant closes, it can be a body blow. Tokoroa sits on State Highway 1, so people commute out towards Hamilton and Rotorua into jobs that pay less, rather than people commuting into Tokoroa, and there is less to go around for the cafés and shops.At Ronnies, an old-school kiwi café on the main drag, owner Nancy Chhor knows her customers by name and everyone is "dear". She has held prices down despite rising costs. "We understand that we have to help locals."Watch the series: Zombie TownsLarry Sullivan, who owns Morrissey's clothing store, employs two mates who have been there 22 and 12 years. "We just come to work with our mates every day." That's his main worry in a tough business environment. He knows it's not just his business. As a Justice of the Peace he signs KiwiSaver hardship forms, upward of 25 a week.At the gym, Thelma Popata puts memberships on hold for people who have lost their jobs. "I know how important it is to exercise for their mental health as well."I saw a local camaraderie and sense of responsibility from business owners that goes beyond the caricature of the profit maximising automaton. It's not something I hear or sense in the big cities.Some businesses are in Tokoroa because it is a good place to do business. Warwick Batley has run Satco, which builds forestry harvesting machinery, for 35 years and now exports. His customers are at his doorstep and he trains his own workforce. "There's plenty of young people to choose from." I saw them fabricating these intricate, large and tough machines right there.KiwiFil, which makes 3D printer filament, moved down from Auckland, where "rent was just eating us alive," says Eva Hakansson. And they found a pool of mums who were keen to work between school hours.But Tokoroa has lost something too. Alan Blair, who spent his working life at the mill, remembers managers and workers on the same streets. That ended when the mills and forests were sold to investors from afar.This is the paradox of the provinces: plants closing, employers who can't find staff, and high unemployment, all at once. The jobs and the people are both there. The mechanisms to match them, training and support, aren't well resourced or widely available. This is a real opportunity to unlock the potential that already exists.Balclutha shows one way to build it. Bryan Cadogan, mayor from 2010, was unemployed for a long stretch when he was young and knows how hard it can be. "It just seemed obscene to me that we could have a thousand jobs on offer and have all these young kids. Unemployment isn't an employment issue, it's a social issue." The council asked local businesses, found the vacancies, and turned its economic development agency into a recruitment agency. This is where local leadership and resourcing is most useful: a catalyst, a consistent capacity to understand the opportunities and smooth the way.Rebecca Coote runs beef operations at Silver Fern Farms' Finegand freezing works. "We have a shortage of labour." Robots now do some of the heavy cutting, and the plant has shifted from frozen bulk to chilled premium cuts that fetch excellent prices in the United States. There aren't fewer jobs, but there are better jobs and better profits.It's not just the freezing works. There are more people working in retail, health, construction and farming too. Partly it's luck, partly a strong farming sector, and partly a growing population needing more services.I didn't expect to find so many job opportunities in Tokoroa or Balclutha, or such good reasons to put a business there. These are ingredients for good jobs in many places, if harnessed. We may not be able to replicate Balclutha's exact conditions everywhere, but they exist in spades in heartland New Zealand.In episode two of Zombie Towns, I finally stop in Tokoroa, rather than driving through. I ride with Andrew Dobbs to what was meant to be his last shift at the plywood mill, hear how Cook Island families and a union town built one of New Zealand's richest communities, and meet the main-street owners, Larry, Nancy and Thelma, who are carrying their customers through hard times.