Proportion of Pacific Peoples in industries, Jun 2019
Manufacturing
Wholesale & Retail
Other Business Services
Health Care and Social Assistance
Utilities and Construction
Transport Warehousing IM &...
Public Admin and Safety
Education and Training
Accommodation & Foeed Services
Other Services
Financial and insurance
Agriculture Forestry Fishing and Mining
0%
Pacific Peoples
5%
10%
15%
20%
Total All Ethnic Groups
FIGURE 9: Proportion of Pacific People in industries, June 201999
We are also aware of workers’ experiences of
exploitation, through employers’ threats of
deportation and misrepresentation of regulations
and worker entitlements.100 Communities have also
shared their experiences of unemployment and
under-employment with the Commission. Pacific
communities in New Zealand have significant
experience with unemployment after the early waves
of industrial closures resulting from international
market change from the 1970s, economic reforms
of the 1980s and the post-1987-stockmarket-crash
recessions of the early 1990s. Under-employment is
recognised as either insufficient work from one job
to take care of household financial responsibilities, or
as working few hours but wanting to do more. Fono
participants highlighted that both unemployment and
under-employment makes caring for families and
wealth accumulation a considerable challenge.
99
100
28
At the time of writing this Talanoa paper, the
full impact of COVID-19 on the economy and
labour market was not yet known. Since 2017, the
unemployment rate of Pacific peoples has dropped
beneath ten percent, which reversed a trend set in
the late 1980s. Today the main concentrated groups
of Pacific people who are unemployed are:
• Pacific Men aged 15-24 – 24.2 percent
• Pacific Women aged 15.24 – 20 percent
Pacific peoples make considerable contributions
to Aotearoa New Zealand’s economy through their
participation in the workforce and there is a potential
for an even greater contribution in the future.
MBIE Pacific Peoples Labour Report June 2019.
Community Feedback at Preventing Pacific Worker Exploitation in New Zealand fono, 22 May 2019.
Talanoa: Human rights issues for Pacific peoples in Aotearoa New Zealand