Experiences of interpersonal racism Pacific workers shared stories of interpersonal racism and discrimination in the workforce that contributed to their experiences of the pay gap. Their stories included both explicit and suspected experiences of racism. A small number of Pacific workers also reported that they experienced discrimination from Pacific managers and business owners. Pacific workers spoke about the overt interpersonal racism they experienced, including racial slurs and harassment. More-experienced Pacific workers who observed or experienced racism were particularly concerned about its disabling impact on the younger generation. One Pacific healthcare worker told us: I can now see racist behaviour in work, racism against young PIs – how they’re treated in the workplace, shuts them down, keeps them from being confident in progression. (T016) A Pacific construction worker agreed, observing that there is “racism against young Pacific Islanders, shuts them down” (T017). These observations are supported by the Commission’s previous research into young people’s experiences. Some Pacific workers noted the difference in the experience of racism between New Zealand-born Pacific workers and workers who had come from the Pacific Islands. Not all of those in the latter group recognised the poor treatment they experienced as racism at the time. One construction worker from Tonga told us: Growing up in Tonga, racism wasn’t a thing, discrimination wasn’t a thing. When [I] got here, I wasn’t aware I was being subjected to racism or discrimination. Looking back, [I] understand I did face a lot of discrimination growing up, but at the time, just powered through it to make a better future. They offered the reason, specific to Tongans, that “Tongans coming from Tonga don’t realise what is happening sometimes because there are no colonial “other” in Tonga and our experience with colonisation in the Pacific is different” (T017). By contrast, they saw the immediate impact on their New Zealand-born workmates: [I] was called racial slurs, put up with it. [It was] the NZ-born Pacific Islanders that got really offended. I can see it affected them. (T017) Some of the racism Pacific workers experienced was more subtle, involving indirect or even unintentional comments or incidents – ones that often make assumptions or perpetuate stereotypes. One student described their experience of these microaggressions: People often ask where do you come from or where are you from? I’m from Nelson. Someone asked if I was on a work visa. Just to answer your question, no I’m a proud New Zealander. I’m studying at Otago Uni, thank you. (T018) Some of those who identified with another ethnicity as well as Pacific shared the tensions they experienced in the workplace, describing both discrimination by employers and the feeling of not being quite Pacific enough. One healthcare worker told us: I have been told at an interview before that I am not what they expected (physically) after reading my CV as I have a lot of Pacific-focused volunteer work on my CV but was not considered “Pacific looking” as my father is Dutch … On top of that, as a Pacific Islander who is also mixed race, often I do not feel that I have the authority to speak on these issues – cultural identity/lack of cultural confidence. (S077) Experience of interpersonal racism has health and social impacts for the people on the receiving end. One researcher explained the physiological damages of racism to us: Stress and cortisol are elevated and people’s sense of fight or flight is permanently turned on. Over a lifetime, you just carry this piled-on discrimination and its effects. (R001) Low expectations generated by stereotypes Participants felt low expectations drove employers’ decisions. Several people spoke about the way they felt stereotypes of them as Pacific peoples were working against them both in finding work and once in the workplace. One construction worker told us about his experience of meeting potential clients in person: Voices of Pacific peoples 71