His Keira St Mexican eatery has benefited from the skill-finding scheme, where jobseekers do a pre-vocational course with the Austrain Academy, and skills are matched with jobs open.

"Austrain actually get people in, they vet them and put them through a basic skills test in a commercial kitchen," he said.

"It saves us time and money - if you can't get past a basic level of a few days' training in a commercial environment, you're not going to last. If they can make it thought that process then they're a decent chance of making it further with us."

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Illawarra YES has been funded for another year with $150,000 from the State Government, to create job pathways for young people in areas such as hospitality, tourism, disability services and retail.

"A program like this that supports young people find work couldn't have come at a more appropriate time," Member for Kiama Gareth Ward said.

"The YES program has helped 223 young clients with training and work experience and to date has secured over 100 jobs for young people throughout our region."

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