MAori Labour Market Factsheet – December 2007

08 February 2008

This factsheet reports key Maori labour market information for the year to December 2007.  All data are sourced from the Household Labour Force Survey released by Statistics New Zealand.  Ethnic data are not seasonally adjusted and so all figures are averaged over a year to reduce seasonal variation and sample error.

Summary of the Maori labour market for the year to December 2007

Long description for Maori Labour Market Summary

Participation

The participation rate for Maori was at an historical high for year to December 2007 at 68.0%.  This is higher than the previous record of 67.0% recorded for the year to December 2006 and is considerably higher than the 62.4% for the year to December 1999.  The Maori participation rate is below the national annual average of 68.6%.

Employment

Employment growth for Maori has been high at 4.7% per annum on average since December 1999, and 4.3% for the year to December 2007.  This expansion in employment is higher than the economy-wide average of 2.4% (since 1999) and 1.8% (year to December 2007).

Unemployment

The unemployment rate for Maori fell for the year to December 2007 reaching 7.7, down from 7.9% a year earlier and 16.6% for the year to December 1999.  The (percentage point) fall in the Maori unemployment rate since 1999 was greater than the fall for European and the fall for Pacific Peoples.  However, the Maori unemployment rate remains above the annual average rate for all persons (3.6%).

Females      

The Maori female participation rate was 61.9% for the year to December 2007 and has been increasing faster than for either European or Pacific women.  Maori women have also enjoyed a large fall in the unemployment rate over the last eight years falling from 15.8% to 8.4%.  However, the unemployment rate for Maori women still remains well above the average for all females of 3.9%.

Youth

The unemployment rate for Maori youth aged 15-19 declined for the year to December 2007 to 22.6%. This is down from the 23.8% recorded for the year to December 2006 and is less than the 29.7% measured for the year to December 2000.  Unemployment rates for Maori youth are still considerably higher than for all 15-19 year olds (14.0%).