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New Zealand's future depends on the skills of its workers and firms and industry supporting New Zealanders to work to the best of their potential.

Using and developing the skills of our workforce ensures we remain competitive in a global environment.  This requires a coordinated approach to make sure that skills development is focused on the needs of industry and the economy; formal qualifications reflect the skills needed in the jobs for which they are designed, and that managers are capable of supporting workers to work to the best of their ability and potential. 

As 80 percent of our current workforce will still be in the workforce in 2020, we need to develop and raise the skills of people currently in work.

The Skills Strategy forms what the government, the Council of Trade Unions, Business New Zealand and the Industry Training Federation, believe will be effective ways to ensure that as a nation we have the skills necessary to drive economic growth. This includes:

• The link between skills and productivity
• Responding to skills shortages
• Making the most of our investment in skills
• Skills for Māori and Pacific peoples
• The role of Immigration
• Making work more attractive

Now we need draw on what you know as employers, workers, education and training providers and individuals so that we can have an agreed way forward to ensure we continue to prosper in a competitive global environment.