The Huon Valley Council will establish a local jobs hub in Huonville to connect job seekers with employers.

Mayor Bec Enders said the community in the Valley, as well as in Kingborough, will benefit from having a service dedicated to supporting employment in regional areas.

“The jobs hub will provide a localised, flexible approach to delivering employment services to the community,” she said.

“It is designed to link local people with local jobs through providing job matching, coaching and referral services and will work with job seekers to address barriers to work, including skills and transport.”

The hub is expected to be up and running in mid-2022 and will provide a conduit for local employers seeking staff to access local job seekers and support industry to plan for future workforce demands and address shortages.

Mayor Enders said Council had spent the last two years advocating for opportunities to attract a dedicated resource to connect job seekers with employers.

“I am delighted that the State Government has allocated $1.625 million over three years for Council to facilitate the establishment of a regional jobs hub to service job
seekers and businesses in the Huon Valley, Channel and Bruny Island region in partnership with the local community.”

The hub will be the first to be established under the State Government’s new Jobs Tasmania model. It will be governed by a regional jobs hub board that will be set up through an
expressions of interest process. The role of the board will be to represent the views of employers, job seekers, diverse population groups within the community, business
and government services on barriers to employment, workforce participation and education and training.

The Council will now work towards setting up a single authority for the hub to operate independently. In accordance with the Government’s funding commitment the hub
will operate for three years. Mayor Enders said while the board will consider transitional arrangements to extend its operations beyond the three years, Council will ensure the hub is setup with both longevity and sustainability in mind both now and into the future.