Asians to make up 15pc of workforce by 2026

The Asian workforce in New Zealand is growing at a rate where it will make up 15 per cent of the country's total workforce by 2026, new research shows.

Employment Minister Paula Bennett said the new Department of Labour report described the Asian population as highly qualified, youthful and entrepreneurial, and showed its workforce was emerging as an important part of New Zealand's changing labour market.

According to the report, half of working age Asians are between 15 and 34 years old, likely to be university educated and working professionally.

"The report also tells us degree-qualified Asians are three times more likely to be working as clerks as the national average, suggesting many are actually over qualified for the job they're in."

New Zealand's Asian population more than doubled between 1996 and the 2006 census, which showed Asians made up the fourth-largest major group of ethnicities here after European, Maori and other.

Ms Bennett said Asian people would form a critical and skilled part of the future workforce and employers needed to be ready to respond and capitalise on the situation.

- NZPA