Work

Labour force status

Hours of work

Unemployment

Distribution across industries

Occupational distribution

Self-employment

Unpaid work

Participation in the labour force

From the early 1970s until the late 1980s, Māori women were more likely to participate in the labour force than non-Māori women (Statistics New Zealand 1994). In 1986, 56% of Māori women aged 15 and over were in the labour market compared with 53% of non-Māori women. However, as recession set in and economic reforms progressed, the participation of Māori women fell sharply while that of non-Māori women remained fairly constant. By 1991, Māori women were less likely than non-Māori women to be participating in the labour force (47% compared to 52%). Economic conditions improved in the early 1990s, but it was some time before there was any noticeable improvement in Māori women's participation. By 1996, the labour force participation rate of Māori women had improved, and was again equal to that of non-Māori women (both 58%). However, Māori women remained less likely to be employed (47% compared to 54% of non-Māori).

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Labour force status

Women are generally less likely to be in paid employment than men. Women tend to move in and out of the labour force and to change their hours of work as family commitments allow and as the supply of jobs fluctuates (see Families and Households section).

Changes in labour force participation since the mid 1980s are reflected in the changing distribution of Māori and non-Māori women across the different labour force categories (Table 9). Of particular note is the very large increase between 1986 and 1991 in the proportion of Māori women not in the labour force. This suggests that many women, discouraged by a lack of employment opportunities, may have ceased actively seeking employment and therefore would not have been counted as part of the labour force.

Table 9 Labour force status of Māori and non-Māori women, 1986-1996

Source: Statistics New Zealand 1988, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1997c, 1998a

During the recession of the late 1980s Māori women suffered losses in both full-time and part-time employment. Although the proportion of non-Māori women in full-time employment dropped between 1986 and 1991, this was offset to some extent by a rise in part-time employment. The proportion of both populations in full-time employment increased between 1991 and 1996. However, there was a considerably lower proportion of Māori women in full-time work in 1996 (31%) than there had been in 1986 (40%).

The proportion of Māori women aged 15 and over in the part-time labour force rose steeply from 9% in 1991 to 16% in 1996. This remains lower than the level of participation of non-Māori women in the part-time labour force in 1996 (20%).

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Hours of work

There is now little difference in the proportion of employed Māori and non-Māori women who work less than 30 hours per week. Between 1991 and 1996, the proportion of employed Māori women working part-time hours rose from 27% to 35% whilst that of non-Māori climbed from 32% to 36%. Thus more than one-third of Māori and non-Māori women workers now work part-time.

Employed Māori women are slightly less likely than non-Māori to work part-time hours in all but the 20-29 age group (Figure 18). The effects of different childbearing patterns are clear. For both populations it is women at the youngest and oldest ages that are most likely to work part-time hours.

Figure 18 Percent of employed Māori and non-Māori women who work part-time by age, 1996

Source: Statistics New Zealand 1997c, 1998a

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Unemployment

In the 1980s, many industries in which Māori were concentrated began shedding labour. This, together with the public sector restructuring in the latter part of the decade, gave rise to the highest levels of unemployment since the 1930s. Between 1986 and 1991, the proportion of Māori women in the labour force who were unemployed increased from 19% to 25%. As economic conditions improved, this proportion decreased again, dropping back to 19% in 1996.

In the five years to 1996, Māori women's unemployment levels were about two and a half times those of non-Māori women. By 1996 however, the unemployment rate of Māori women was almost three times higher than that of non-Māori women (7%). At this time, Māori women made up 28% of all unemployed women, but only 12% of women in the labour force. Māori women are more likely to be unemployed than non-Māori women at all ages (Figure 19). However, it is young women in both groups who have the highest unemployment rates.

Figure 19 Unemployment rates for Māori and non-Māori women by age, 1996

Source: Statistics New Zealand 1997c, 1998a

In view of the over-representation of Māori among unemployed women, it could be expected that Māori women would be well represented in programmes provided by the recently restructured Work and Income New Zealand (WINZ). However, a recent studyfound that relatively few Māori women participated in these programmes compared with their numbers on the unemployment register run by the New Zealand Employment Service at the time of the study, and Māori women were under-represented on the register as a whole (Fletcher 1998).

Table 10 gives an indication of the differential impacts that the economic downturn has had on Māori and non-Māori families. In 1996, Māori children aged 0-14 were twice as likely as non-Māori children to be in a family where neither parent was in the paid workforce.

Table 10 Percent of Māori and non-Māori children aged 0-14 years in two-parent families by labour force status of parents, 1996

Source: Statistics New Zealand 1998h

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Distribution across industries

The 1980s was a period of rapid decline in manufacturing, the industrial sector within which Māori men and women workers were most heavily concentrated. In 1976, 32% of Māori women were working in this sector but by 1996, this proportion had fallen to 13%.

The only sector of the economy to experience growth during the 1980s and 1990s was the services sector. In 1996, the largest concentration of employed Māori women (39%) was found in the community, social, and personal services industries, all part of the services sector (Figure 20). Nevertheless, more Māori women than non-Māori are likely to be engaged in declining sectors of the economy, such as manufacturing and transport. Similarly, Māori women workers are less likely than non-Māori women workers to be engaged in high growth areas, particularly the highest growth industry of business and financial services (10% as opposed to 15%). Māori women therefore remain vulnerable to changing economic conditions.

Figure 20 Industrial distribution of employed Māori and non-Māori women, 1996

Source: Statistics New Zealand 1997c, 1998a
Note: Mining and Quarrying excluded due to very small numbers.

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Occupational distribution

One of the positive features of Māori women's participation in the labour force since 1991 has been the shift in occupational distribution. The number and proportion of Māori women employed as technicians and associated professionals, and legislators, administrators, and managers increased between 1991 and 1996. Over the same period, the proportion of Māori women working in elementary occupations decreased, even though the number of Māori women working in this occupation category had increased.

Nevertheless, considerable differences between Māori and non-Māori women remain. Māori women continue to be more likely to work in less skilled occupations. This may reflect the combined effects of the greater tendency of young Māori women to leave school with fewer qualifications, their earlier childbearing patterns, and their later entry into full-time employment. At the 1996 Census, 25% of Māori women were employed in services and sales jobs and a further 12% were in elementary occupations. Māori women were less likely than non-Māori women to be employed as technicians, professionals, and legislators, administrators, and managers (Figure 21).

Figure 21 Occupational distribution of employed Māori and non-Māori women, 1996

Source: Statistics New Zealand 1998a
Elementary occupations as classified by the New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (NZSCO) include caretakers and cleaners, couriers and deliverers, hotel porters, packers and freight handlers, and labourers.

Within occupational groups, there are differences between the income levels of Māori and non-Māori women. When the incomes of Māori and nonMāori women within each occupational group are compared, Māori women consistently receive less than their non-Māori counterparts. For example, in 1996 only 15% of Māori women professionals received an income of $40,001 or more, compared with 30% of their non-Māori peers. Likewise, in the less skilled occupation groups, Māori women earned less than non-Māori women.

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Self-employment

By far the majority of Māori women who are employed are wage and salary earners (89% in 1996). Over the last 10 years, however, the proportion of Māori women workers who are engaged full-time in their own business rose slightly to reach 6%, or about 5,100, in 1996 (Figure 22). In contrast however, twice this proportion of non-Māori women workers (13%) were full-time self-employed in 1996.

Figure 22 Proportion of employed Māori and non-Māori women in full-time self-employment, 1991 and 1996

Source: Statistics New Zealand 1993, 1997c, 1998a

Within the Māori population, Māori women make up an increasing proportion of all self-employed. Since 1981, this proportion has nearly doubled, rising from 16% to 31% in 1996. However, despite these trends Māori women continue to be less likely than both non-Māori women and Māori men to be full-time self-employed.

It is likely that targeted initiatives such as the Māori Women's Development Fund and Wàhine Pakari have had a positive impact on Māori women's participation in business. For example, a recent evaluation of Wàhine Pakari found that the programme had assisted Māori women and their whànau into employment, self-employment, and training opportunities (New Zealand Employment Service 1998).

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Unpaid work

(More detailed information on unpaid work, including unpaid work done specifically for Māori organisations, will become available in the year 2000 from the Time Use Survey being undertaken by Statistics New Zealand and the Ministry of Women's Affairs.)

Māori women have continued to be at the forefront of Māori social and cultural development despite the social and economic challenges they have faced. Māori women continue to be a major driving force behind te kōhanga reo, kura kaupapa Māori, and other Māori development initiatives. In addition, they have been actively involved with the growth in Māori programmes and service provision to Māori communities.

Much of Māori women's contribution to Māori development has been in an unpaid capacity. Figure 23 shows the high level of involvement of Māori women in a voluntary capacity in administration, training, teaching, counselling, and fund-raising. Moreover, Māori women were more likely than non-Māori women to have engaged in all of the listed types of unpaid work outside the home. According to the 1996 Census, 59% of Māori women and 53% of non-Māori women had undertaken unpaid work outside the home in the four weeks prior to the census.

In particular, the proportion of Māori women undertaking childcare (defined as looking after a child who does not live in the same household, unpaid) and household work (includes unpaid household work, cooking, repairs, gardening, or looking after a person who is aged, ill or has a disability. Does not include work done in own household) outside the home is relatively high.

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