Maori workforce, assets expanding

AUCKLAND: Around 100,000 more Maori are in the workforce now than eight years ago, according to a new report from Business and Economic Research with the Reserve Bank.

Te Ohanga Maori 2018, released this week, showed Maori are increasingly involved in business activities, have a diverse asset base and a growing workforce with more skills.

The Maori economy has been put at $68.7 billion, up on the previously estimated $42.6 billion.

Traci Houpapa, Federation of Maori Authorities chairwoman, said: ‘‘Maori are a young population and growing fast. There are over 100,000 more Maori in the workforce today than there were eight years ago. We are a significant part of the current and future workforce of Aotearoa.’’

Around 300,000 Maori now work in New Zealand’s workforce, 74,000 of them in highskill jobs.

Ganesh Nana, of Berl, said the report's date was 2018 to align with census data but there had been delays with due to Covid.

The report said: ‘‘The financial value of assets underpinning Te Ohanga Maori in 2018 is estimated at $68.7 billion. This compares with an estimated $42.6 billion in 2013.’’

The previous report came out in 2015.

‘‘Of this total, nearly $21 billion resides within Maori trusts, incorporations and entities, with the majority or $14 billion in the natural resourcebased sectors. Within this category, sheep and beef farming continues to dominate Maori assets in the agriculture sector, although assets in horticulture including kiwifruit are growing in significance,’’ the report said.

‘‘Assets in the fishing industry total $2.4 billion, while just under $1 billion are in forestry sector assets. There are also a considerable quantity of assets held by Maori entities in property (industrial, commercial, and residential), totalling $4.8 billion,’’ it said.

‘‘Nevertheless, the assets of the businesses of more than 9900 Maori employers continue to make up the bulk of this asset base. In 2018, this component totalled $39.1 billion, up from the $23.4 billion in assets of the businesses of 6800 Maori employers in 2013. These businesses each have an average $4 million in assets, and 14 employees,’’ Berl's report said.

Berl chief economist Hillmare Schultze, said Maori were still key players in the more traditional primary sector areas of the economy ‘‘but the asset base is increasingly diversified’’.

Any description of the Maori economy needed to go beyond Te Tiriti settlements, she said.

‘‘Many businesses and trusts existed before the beginning of the settlement processes, producing goods and delivering services. Maori employers, entrepreneurs and employees are in every industry and every sector, generating wealth and wellbeing,’’ she said.

Adrian Orr, Reserve Bank Governor, said the Berl report was written before the pandemic but gave a snapshot of the Maori economy just before the outbreak.

Te Tiriti settlements to date were about $2.2 billion in cash and assets transferred from the Crown during the last quartercentury.

‘‘The assets and businesses of Maori employers are spread broadly across many sectors, including the primary industries, as well as manufacturing and service sectors. Assets in the real estate and property services sector total over $8.2 billion, with another $7.5 billion in agriculture, forestry, and fishing.

‘‘In the latter category, forestry assets dominate at $3 billion, with $1.6 billion in dairy farming,’’ Berl found. — The New Zealand Herald