A new report released today by Auckland Council captures the size and scale of Pacific businesses in Auckland and across the country.
Auckland Council partnered with the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) to commission the Quantifying the Pacific Economy report, produced by Nicholson Consulting.
The report’s insights into New Zealand’s Pacific economy will help to inform Auckland Council’s economic development strategy.
“With Auckland being home to more than 60 per cent of New Zealand’s Pacific population and with Pacific peoples accounting for 25 per cent of Auckland’s population aged under 15, Auckland Council has a key role to play in understanding and supporting the Pacific economy locally and nationally,” says Pam Ford, General Manager of Auckland Council’s Economic Development Office.
Sarah Leo, Auckland Council Manager for Economic Development – Pacific, says Tāmaki Makaurau is the heart of the Pacific economy in Aotearoa.
“Auckland is a significant contributor to Pacific economic activity nationwide. This underscores the importance of place-based strategies and tailored support to unlock the full potential of the Pacific economy, for the benefit of Pacific communities and Aotearoa as a whole,” Leo says.
Quantifying the Pacific Economy is being launched today [28 November] at the Auckland Pacific Economic Insights Series event at Aotea Centre. The invitation-only morning event, the second of three annual events, is hosted by the Economic Development Office. The report will be available to view online at aucklandeconomicdevelopment.com from Friday, 28 November.
Quantifying the Pacific Economy uses data from Statistics NZ and Inland Revenue for the financial years ending 2013 to 2023 to capture the contribution of Pacific businesses and workers to the broader Auckland and national economies.
The data captures three types of businesses: Pacific-owned businesses, Pacific sole traders, and significant employers of Pacific people.
Findings include:
- 2023 data identified there were 5271 economically significant, private-for-profit Pacific businesses in New Zealand. Of these, 3555 (67%) were businesses with Pacific owners. The remaining third of Pacific businesses operated as sole traders (1716).
- 51% (2685) of New Zealand’s private-for-profit Pacific businesses were in Auckland, of which 909 were Pacific sole traders and 1776 were Pacific-owned businesses with employees.
- The value of 2023 sales by those 1776 Pacific-owned Auckland businesses with employees was $1.798 billion – about a third larger than the value of sales from Pacific-owned businesses with employees across the rest of New Zealand ($1.327 billion).
- In 2023, there were 1089 businesses with owners in Auckland who were significant employers of Pacific peoples. Of these 465 (42.7%) had a Pacific owner.
- Significant employers of Pacific peoples were around 13 times more likely to be Pacific-owned.
- The industries with the largest proportion of Pacific-owned businesses in Tāmaki Makaurau are Construction (35%), Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services (15%), and Administration and Support services (8%).
- Between 2013 and 2023 there was a 61% increase in the number of Pacific-owned businesses nationally – an increase from 1.3% to 1.9% of all businesses in Aotearoa with owners employing staff.
Earlier this month Auckland Council won the Supreme Award at the Economic Development NZ Excellence Awards for its delivery of Project Ikuna, a professional development programme for Pacific peoples, delivered on behalf of MBIE.
You can find the Quantifying the Pacific Economy report here
