manufacturing sector related to primary industries (such as food and wood) is projected to decline, although manufacturing that is not related to primary products is expected to experience job growth.141 The manufacturing industry has seen a prolonged but steady increase in its Pacific workforce since 2010.142 Historically, this industry is a significant employer of Pacific workers, owing primarily to New Zealand’s importing of Pacific labour from the 1950s–1990s to fill its low-skilled labour force and aid in the capitalist expansion of its thriving manufacturing economy.143 In 2020, 14 percent of the Pacific workforce was employed in manufacturing in contrast to 9 percent of the non-Pacific workforce.144 In 2021, the median hourly earnings from main job of Pacific men in manufacturing was $24.50 compared to $31.00 for European men, representing a 20.97 per cent pay gap. For Pacific women, the median hourly earnings was $21.58, which represents a 30.39 per cent pay gap, when compared to European men’s earnings.145 Many occupations within the manufacturing industry such as labouring or machinery operating are low-skilled and low-paying. Pacific workers are not only overrepresented in the manufacturing industry as a whole but are underrepresented in its professional and managerial roles.146 There is also growing indication that the employment dominated by Pacific workers in the manufacturing industry 24 is demonstrably insecure in the face of national or global economic shocks. Further, it is highly likely to become automated in the near future.147 For Pacific immigrant workers in particular, the manufacturing industry is the largest source of employment, many of whom move into its low-skilled and low-paying positions despite having held professional or managerial positions in their place of origin.148 As the manufacturing industry is less reliant on contracting than the construction industry, there is less research into manufacturing work, specifically its precarity or lack of job security.149 However, Pacific manufacturing workers still experience the ongoing socioeconomic impacts of low income, a lack of opportunity for training and career progression and racism.150 The ongoing effects of such employment are demonstrated by Pacific workers in the manufacturing industry having an in-work poverty rate of 4.5 percent, the highest (equal with Asian workers) of all ethnic groups.151 Again, as with construction workers, Pacific manufacturing workers indicate that their primary concern is that these broader socioeconomic effects negatively impact their ability to contribute to the wellbeing of their family and community.152 141 E tū, E tū in 2030. 142 Itinteang, “Pacific Workforce Indicators,” 7. 143 New Zealand Human Rights Commission, Talanoa, 7. 144 Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment, Pacific Peoples in the Labour Market – June 2020 Quarter, 1. 145 Based on Household Labour Force Survey data (2021). 146 Ministry for Pacific Peoples, Pacific Employment Action Plan, 3; Department of Labour. In Harm’s Way: A Case Study of Pacific Workers in Manukau Manufacturing. Wellington: Labour and Immigration Research Centre, 2012, 25. https://thehub.swa.govt. nz/resources/in-harms-way-a-case-study-of-pacific-workers-in-manukau-manufacturing/. 147 Ministry for Pacific Peoples, Pacific Employment Action Plan, 3. 148 Bedford, Richard, et al. “Immigrants from the Pacific: ‘Drain on the Economy’ or Active Participation in the Labour Force?” Asian and Pacific Migration Journal 19, no. 3 (2010): 386. 149 Hurt-Suwan and Mahler, “Social Procurement,” 111. 150 Chen, National Culture, 43-44; New Zealand Human Rights Commission, Talanoa, 14, 25-30; Ministry for Pacific Peoples, Pacific Employment Action Plan, 3-5; The Southern Initiative, Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment, and Auckland Co-design Lab, Pacific Peoples’ Workforce Challenge, Auckland: The Southern Initiative, 2018, 10, 14. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5cf74c8f2829e20001db724f/t/5d0dc61017e3300001d3aa5e/1561183812123/ Pacific+Peoples+Workforce+Challenge.pdf. 151 Plum and Pacheco, In-work Poverty in New Zealand, 17. 152 Department of Labour, In Harm’s Way, 32, 44; New Zealand Human Rights Commission, Talanoa, 25.