Ethnicity
Employment Statistics
Tables 25 and 26 indicate the acuteness of Māori and Pacific youth unemployment. More than one in four Māori and one in four Pacific youth in the labour market are unemployed.
For all under 25 year olds, 9.3% of Europeans, 15.4% of Māori, 13.1% of Pacific youth and 9.5% of Asian/MELAA/other are unemployed.11 The different participation rates leads to questions as to what those people are doing – and for under 25s many will be in education.
Unemployment rates by qualification (Tables 27 to 29) suggest that while higher education levels reduce the likelihood of unemployment, Māori, Pacific people and other people from ethnic minorities with a post secondary school diploma have higher rates of unemployment than Europeans with no qualifications.12
Table 25: Participation rates
| Under 25 yrs | 25-44 yrs | 45 and over | Total | |
| European | 67.5% | 85.2% | 61.3% | 69.8% |
| Māori | 56.3% | 76.1% | 64.5% | 66.4% |
| Pacific Peoples | 48.0% | 75.3% | 57.5% | 61.6% |
| Asian/MELAA/Other | 53.2% | 80.9% | 58.2% | 66.9% |
| Total | 62.1% | 83.0% | 60.7% | 68.5% |
Table 26: Unemployment rates
| Under 25 yrs | 25-44 yrs | 45 and over | Total | |
| European | 13.8% | 4.1% | 2.9% | 5.1% |
| Māori | 27.4% | 9.7% | 7.8% | 13.4% |
| Pacific Peoples | 27.2% | 10.2% | 7.5% | 13.6% |
| Asian/MELAA/Other | 17.8% | 7.5% | 4.8% | 8.5% |
| Total | 16.8% | 5.5% | 3.6% | 6.6% |
Qualifications and unemployment
Table 27: Male unemployment rates by educational qualification and ethnicity
| Ethnicity | None | School Qual | Post School (Diploma) | Bachelor | Not Specified | Total |
| European | 8.6% | 6.5% | 4.1% | 2.6% | ..S | 5.0% |
| Māori | 22.6% | 12.5% | 8.8% | ..S | ..S | 13.8% |
| Pacific | 14.2% | 15.8% | 10.4% | ..S | ..S | 12.1% |
| Asian/MELAA/Other | ..S | 12.4% | 8.9% | 4.8% | ..S | 7.7% |
| Total | 11.0% | 8.3% | 5.2% | 3.1% | ..S | 6.4% |
Table 28: Female unemployment rates by educational qualification and ethnicity
| Ethnicity | None | School Qual | Post School (Diploma) | Bachelor | Not Specified | Total |
| European | 7.9% | 7.3% | 4.8% | 2.4% | ..S | 5.3% |
| Māori | 18.9% | 15.1% | 11.8% | ..S | ..S | 12.9% |
| Pacific | 16.3% | 17.0% | 16.1% | ..S | ..S | 15.2% |
| Asian/MELAA/Other | 7.3% | 12.3% | 11.4% | 7.5% | ..S | 9.4% |
| Total | 10.1% | 8.5% | 6.6% | 3.7% | ..S | 6.8% |
Table 29: Total unemployment rates by educational qualification and ethnicty
| Ethnicity | None | School Qual | Post School (Diploma) | Bachelor | Not Specified | Total |
| European | 8.3% | 6.9% | 4.4% | 2.5% | 3.0% | 5.1% |
| Māori | 21.0% | 13.8% | 10.2% | 4.2% | ..S | 13.4% |
| Pacific | 15.0% | 16.4% | 13.1% | ..S | ..S | 13.6% |
| Asian/MELAA/Other | 6.0% | 12.3% | 10.0% | 6.1% | ..S | 8.5% |
| Total | 10.6% | 8.4% | 5.8% | 3.4% | 3.4% | 6.6% |
12 Other factors such as age may be at play here, for example are Europeans with no qualifications older on average than Māori workers with no qualifications? Sampling errors may also account for the difference. The issue needs further investigation.