Industry Insights
What we are seeing across industry
‘Economic wellbeing’ means having livelihoods that enable people to live with dignity, and work that is meaningful and purposeful too. But this is an increasingly distant reality for many Māori and Pasifika peoples.
Construction and Infrastructure
It’s hard not to see evidence of the building boom happening in Tāmaki Makaurau, with major infrastructure programmes and a plethora of highly visible cranes along the CBD’s horizon in all directions. We already had an infrastructure and housing deficit and that’s now exacerbated by the weather events that have hit our built and natural environments.
Māori and Pasifika are a significant part of the workforce building Auckland and are more likely to be working in construction compared with the average Aucklander. Māori and Pasifika peoples have a long and proud history in these ‘blue collar’ jobs and were often the backbone of the workforces which built the country’s physical infrastructure. It remains a critical industry that will always be needed and is an important part of our overall economic success as a country.
Engineering
Vocational education continues to be a necessary part of the education ecosystem, preparing people with practical technical skills for specific jobs. And, after all, an academic pathway isn’t for everyone. However, our big data research of Māori and Pasifika 25-year-olds in south Auckland found that the only vocational qualification which places them in the top ten percent of earners for their age is engineering; on average, university is still the best bet for future earning power. This shouldn’t be a stark binary choice; Māori and Pasifika should thrive from both.
Apprenticeships (or equivalents) are important markers of industry standards and employee competency and affects the levels of wages or salaries that can be commanded. Yet only 13% of Māori enter apprenticeships and, even worse, only half of them complete. Only one percent of young Māori go into (higher paying) engineering apprenticeships.
The research also found that the tertiary education system in south Auckland is producing perverse outcomes; most qualifications acquired by young south Aucklanders are levels two to four (some of which could be obtained at secondary school for free), and the median average student loan debt is more than $17,000. Whilst this level of study-related debt is generally on par with young people from other places in Auckland, the earning power of lower-level qualifications is considerably less than for those with level six and above qualifications.
This means that many young Māori and Pasifika in south Auckland are at a high risk of racking up debt for qualifications that will not enable them to earn enough to repay what they owe.
Technology
In the tech world however, Māori and Pasifika are grossly under-represented even though the fourth industrial revolution is, and will increasingly be, a major shaper of labour market demand.
With just 6.8% of all Māori and Pasifika peoples employed in tech roles, south and west Auckland risk being left even further behind as the future of work continues to change. The average income of Māori and Pasifika peoples in tech professions is currently more than $92,000 per annum (but even so, there is an ethnic pay gap between Māori and Pasifika workers and others).
What we don’t need is more public policies and investments that continue to miss the mark. If we don’t tackle these issues at the source, well intended active labour market policies will continue to be part of the problem rather than enabling us to leap to an economy of mana.
