The need to increase Pacific participation in the skilled workforce
The Pacific population living in New Zealand is young and growing. By 2025 Pacific peoples will make up eight percent of the New Zealand population compared with six percent today. Currently Pacific peoples are over-represented in occupations that are projected to have low future growth (eg, trades workers) and underrepresented in occupations with high growth (professionals). Where Pacific peoples are in industry groups with high future growth, they are more likely to be in the low-skilled, low-paid occupations within them. The continuing over-representation of Pacific peoples in low skilled areas is neither equitable for Pacific communities nor good for the social and economic wellbeing of New Zealand as a whole.
Future demand
The key area of future demand is advanced trade, technical and professional qualifications, especially in engineering and related technologies, architecture and building. This is particularly marked for civil engineering and across industrial, manufacturing and mechanical engineering and technology, as well as for engineering technicians. Specialised managers and business professionals are two occupational groups with high future demand where Pacific peoples are not currently well represented (although they are now studying in these areas at higher rates).
The services industry sector has the best future growth prospects and the area with the best returns is business services, where Pacific peoples are under-represented. The occupational group with the highest returns and highest forecast growth is professionals. Again, Pacific peoples are under-represented in this occupational group.
Education and training
To enter an advanced trade, technical or professional occupation, degrees, and often post-graduate-level study is required. Effective schooling and sound NCEA subject choices are critical prerequisites for Pacific students to enter and succeed in higher-level tertiary education. With only 22.8 percent of Pacific school leavers able to enter university (compared with 48.3 percent of Pākehā students), the biggest challenge to success for Pacific students lies in the school sector.
On the whole, any degree is a good qualification to have and completion of a degree before the age of 25 has the highest benefits. A degree in an area of future demand, such as engineering or many of the professions is even better. Diplomas (level 4 and above) are useful qualifications too, especially in technical and professional areas, and especially for men. However, Pacific peoples do not tend to choose subject areas with high future demand and their retention and completion rate at diploma and degree level is lower than that of other groups.
Modern Apprenticeships are a useful pathway to high-demand trade qualifications, but Pacific participation and completion is lower than for other groups. It is not clear why this is. Industry training pathways generally lead to high-demand diplomas, but they only have clear income benefits for male employees. Few industry pathways lead to degree-level qualifications.
Improving future employment prospects for Pacific
There are two aspects to improving future employment prospects for Pacific peoples:
shifting qualifications and employment choices to higher-demand industry sectors
shifting from low- to high-skilled jobs within high-growth industry sectors.
To achieve this, Pacific peoples require:
effective schooling and subject choices that open up future education and career pathways
understanding of key areas of future employment demand, and
retention and progression in tertiary education, including progression to higher-level study through industry training pathways.
Possible actions to support the required shifts in education and employment outcomes for Pacific peoples include improved education system performance for Pacific school students, better information to inform students’ subject, qualifications and future career choices, and support for retention and progression in tertiary education, including better pathways between low-level and higher-level tertiary education.
