A 45.9% NEET rate and no line item in the Budget
New Zealand has a disability employment problem so severe it should be dominating workforce policy. It is not. MBIE data from June 2025 shows disabled people aged 15-64 have an employment rate of just 38.2%, compared with 78.5% for non-disabled people. The unemployment rate for disabled workers is 14.1%, nearly triple the 5.2% for everyone else. And the figure that should alarm every policymaker: the NEET rate for disabled youth sits at 45.9%, more than four times the 11.3% rate for their non-disabled peers.
Budget 2026 redirected Fees Free funding toward trades training, adding 10,000 Trades Academy places and new secondary school trade courses. None of it is targeted at disabled youth. The cohort with the worst labour market outcomes in the country was not mentioned.
Into that gap steps a programme that looks, at first glance, like a corporate PR exercise. It is not.
Fake groceries, real skills
Mini Woolies places fully operational replica supermarkets inside schools and training centres. Students wear Woolworths uniforms, stock real shelves, serve customers, and operate Fujitsu-built cash registers. The only thing that is not real is the money. In October 2024, Sarah Corey, then General Manager of Enterprise Operations and Mini Woolies for Woolworths Group, described the setup: “Students fill their baskets with real groceries, using a real cash register with software provided by Fujitsu to make transactions (but not with real money). They can create shopping lists, provide customer service, and even use Mini Woolies products in classroom activities.”
The programme has been running since 2018 and has reached more than 8,800 students across 122 sites globally, with eight now operating in New Zealand. The South Island expansion picked up pace in 2025, with new sites at Pītau-Allenvale School in Christchurch and Waitaha School in Rolleston joining earlier openings in Dunedin and Invercargill.
What separates this from a school project is the pipeline. The Invercargill site, run by Front-Line Training Consultancy, maintains a direct referral relationship with local Woolworths stores for work experience and employment. The outcome is not a certificate. It is a candidate who has already handled stock, operated a register, and served customers in a branded environment, with a known pathway to a paid job.
$578 million says this is not charity
The economic case for closing the disability employment gap is not soft. In February 2026, Whaikaha released the NZIER-produced ‘Valuing Access to Work 2025’ report, which found closing the gap could boost GDP by $578 million, with a further $132 million from improved education outcomes.
Whaikaha Chief Executive Paula Tesoriero put it plainly: “Often, a disabled person will be the best person for the job but may face barriers that can be removed with a straightforward conversation.” She added: “The numbers are compelling, but behind them are real people who want to contribute.”
The population is not small. Stats NZ’s 2023 Household Disability Survey, published in February 2025, found 851,000 people in New Zealand households were disabled, including 98,000 children. That is 17% of the household population.
Youth jobs are vanishing at exactly the wrong time
Stats NZ employment indicators for September 2025 showed filled jobs for 15-19 year olds fell 6.6% year-on-year, a loss of 7,778 jobs and the steepest decline of any age group. The broader labour market is softening too, with an overall employment rate of 66.7% as of March 2026.
When the general youth job market is contracting, the already dire position of disabled young people gets worse, not better. Employers pull back from all entry-level hiring. The candidates who need the most support are the first to lose access.
The question other employers should be answering
The infrastructure requirements for Mini Woolies are modest: shelving, stock, a register system, uniforms. Woolworths and Fujitsu fund it. No government grant is required. The Dunedin site has already extended the model to include a cafe component, suggesting it transfers beyond pure retail.
If a supermarket chain can build 122 of these globally, the question for large employers in hospitality, logistics, and manufacturing is straightforward: what is stopping you? The model is scalable. The economic case is quantified. The labour market gap is enormous. And the government, for all its trades training announcements, has left this cohort without a dedicated policy response.
Woolworths did not wait for a ministerial announcement. It built a pipeline. That pipeline is now operating in eight New Zealand locations, producing candidates with real skills for real jobs. The $578 million GDP opportunity is sitting there. Someone just has to stock the shelves.
Sources
- Simulated supermarkets to help youth – Otago Daily Times
- Rising star brings unique energy to mini Woolworths launch – PMN (2025)
- Mini Woolies supermarkets launched – Newstalk ZB
- New report highlights benefit of closing the disability employment gap – Whaikaha (2026-02-17)
- Household Disability Survey 2023 findings – Stats NZ (2025-02)
- Employment indicators: September 2025 – Stats NZ (2025-09)