Manukau East by the numbers
Manukau East is one of three South Auckland electorates with the highest unemployment rates in New Zealand.
Statistics provided by Parliament show about 8 per cent of the area’s residents are unemployed, nearly double the country’s average.
Of the 64 New Zealand electorates it ranks in third place for unemployment, below Manurewa and Ma¯ngere in the top positions.
Just 38 per cent of people living in the electorate have a full-time job.
Manukau East incorporates the ta¯huhu, Papatoetoe, and
tara suburbs and has a population of nearly 65,000 people.
Almost half of its residents are of Pacific Island descent, 50 per cent of people are Christian, and it has the most Hindu believers in the country.
The average age of the electorate is 29, with 30 to 49 year olds making up the biggest share of Manukau East.
The average income is $20,000, with the majority of the population, 34,551 people, receiving a personal income of up to $50,000. About 5660 people earn an income more than $50,000.
Of the roughly 17,685 households in Manukau East, 32 per cent own their home, while 50 per cent are renting.
There are 28 schools in the electorate, and all of them are decile 4 or lower, with 15 of them decile 1.Private school King’s College in ta¯huhu is the exception, being a decile 10.
The Manukau East electorate was established in the 1996 election at the introduction of the MMP voting system.
Longstanding Papatoetoe MP, Labour’s Ross Robertson, was voted in.
He held the seat until 2013 when he retired to focus on local body politics. He’s now deputy chairman of tara-Papatoetoe Local Board.
In his place came Jenny Salesa, a Tongan public sector worker, who was elected in the 2014 election with 17,676 votes to National’s Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi’s 4,422.
The pair are both contesting the seat again this year, with candidates from ACT, Green, Ma¯ori, NZ First, The Opportunities Party, and an independent also standing.