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Full Report

Published: 25 October 2007

This report on Māori labour market outcomes focuses on changes in the past five years and gives an indication of near term prospects.

Māori Labour Market Outcomes HTML | PDF [174 KB, 10 pages]

The Māori labour force participation rate is higher than ever before recorded, and the Māori unemployment rate has fallen to a record low.
Disparities between Māori and non-Māori are narrowing across most key labour market indicators.

The number of Māori employed has grown by 8.7% or 16,400 people in the year to June 2007. This increase contributed to half of total employment growth over the past year.
The unemployment rate for Māori has fallen to a new low of 7.6% in the year to June 2007 although it remains well above the economy-wide unemployment rate (3.7%).
The participation rate for Māori reached an historic high of 67.6%, however it remains below the national annual average participation rate of 68.5%.
The Māori female participation rate has risen to 61.5% in the past year and has increased at a faster rate than the overall female participation rate.

While the increased rates of Māori labour force participation are encouraging, they still lag behind participation rates of non-Māori.
The Māori unemployment rate is still higher than that for non-Māori and further gains could be made in reducing this disparity.
Ensuring the skills of the large inflow of Māori who are entering employment are better matched to higher skilled and higher wage jobs will continue to improve outcomes.

A wide range of policy initiatives are currently in place or under development that are aimed at increasing the skill levels and further lifting labour market participation of Māori, and to reduce Māori unemployment. These initiatives include tailoring Industry Training to better meet Māori needs, engagements with Iwi to focus on raising capability, and Realising Youth Potential

Summary of the Māori labour market for the year to June 2007.