Unemployment Highest Among Maori and Pacific Job Seekers; Still Worst Hit By Recession

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No pretty picture here. Statistics NZ shows the unemployment rate has risen again for Maori and Pacific job seekers.  They represent the worst hit groups normally resident in New Zealand. The unemployment rate for Pacific has almost doubled from 7.8 percent unemployment (December 2008) to 14. percent, as at December 2009.

Unemployment among Maori has risen from 9.8 at 15.4 percent. This does not include the figures for European/Maori which is 13.6 percent. Asian unemployment stands at 9.2 percent. The unemployment rate for those who identify as European is 4.6 percent.

MP for Mana Luamanuvao Winnie Laban says the rate should shame the Government into action.“Just over three months ago unemployment rates among Pacific Islanders was 12.3 per cent and we were being promised by the Government it was working to get people back to work, “she says.

The Labour Opposition Spokesperson for Pacific Island Affairs says this latest increase shows their policies are not working. “In just one year, 5000 additional Pacific Island people have lost their jobs. Pacific Island people, who are overrepresented in lower paid jobs, were also bitterly disappointed at the miserly rise in minimum wage announced last month.”

Luamanuvao says many in the Pacific community are saying they are disappointed with a lack of action from the Minister of Pacific Island Affairs Georgina Te Heuheu.

Te Heuheu, who is the second Maori woman to gain election to the National Party, is  widely criticised within the Pacific community  for her lack of action on Pacific issues.

Luamanuvao on Te Heuheu:

“She  is virtually invisible in the portfolio and offering no support or ideas. I am deeply saddened that the Government is failing so many families and that the Minister of Pacific Island Affairs has sat back and done nothing.”

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NZ Pacific Affairs Minister Georgina Te Heuheu(right), during a visit to Samoa with the Prime Minister John Key(next to her) and Maori Affairs Minister Dr Pita Sharples (left), July 7, 2009 in Apia, Samoa.

Opposition Leader Phil Goff says unemployment in New Zealand is now at the highest level it has been in 16 years and is growing at the highest rate in a decade.

“168,000 Kiwis are now unemployed. The total number of jobless is more than 275,000,” says the Labour Leader.

“The Government’s stimulus package has produced just 2300 jobs. That is a lot less than the 3500 people who queued for hours last month for the chance to grab just 150 jobs at a new South Auckland supermarket.”

Goff, who is highly critical of Prime Minister John Key’s Job Summit for producing few results to help those who need it the most, says more and more people are struggling to make ends meet, with the young, the less well off, Maori and Pacific communities and other ethnic groups especially hard hit.

Source: Statistics NZ Single/combination unemployment rate (unadjusted) by ethnic group
Ethnicity	December 2008 quarter (percent)	December 2009 quarter (percent)
European only	3.2	4.6
Māori only	9.8	15.4
Pacific peoples only	7.8	14.0
Asian only	6.3	9.2
MELAA only	10.7	17.1
‘Other ethnicity’ only	4.1	3.3
European/Māori	7.0	13.6
Two or more groups not elsewhere included	6.5	14.1
Note: MELAA = Middle Eastern/Latin American/African

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