In trade industries there are more new workers over the age of 35 each year than there are under the age of 25. In terms of the sources of these new workers only 4% of workers arrived directly out of secondary school, while half were career changers working in another industry.
These results are similar to our findings for the food and fibre sector, giving weight to the opinion that talent attraction strategies should hold more of a focus on older talent, than those fresh out of high school.
We notice a growing trend in the reliance on migrant labour. In 2011 they accounted for only 7% of new workers, while in 2019 they contributed to 17% of new workers. Regionally, these migrant workers are mostly working in Hawke’s Bay, Tasman, Otago and Marlborough.
We can see the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, while the breakdown in terms of age and source didn’t change dramatically, there was a reduction of around 50,000 new entrants.
Understanding where new talent has historically been sourced from can help inform talent attraction strategies. Historically these strategies have often focused on school leavers with programs such as career expos, job visits, school curriculum and school clubs. Historically we find that young and straight out of secondary school persons make up only a small fraction of new talent entering trade industries, with most arriving with some years of work experience in another industry.
There are more new workers each year above the age of 35 than there are under the age of 25. Over time the distribution of ages seems to remain fairly steady.
Methodology
New entrants are defined as persons who first work at least three months above a minimum wage threshold of 120 hours (30 hours across 4 weeks). Age is determined at the time of starting work.
The source of new entrants is what we'll define as the primary activity of each new worker in the year leading up to starting work. Career changers, persons with full time work experience another industry and no tertiary enrolments, make the majority of new entrants into trade sectors. This is not be too surprising since over two thirds of new workers are above the age of 25.
There is a growing reliance on migrant labour. In 2011 inflow of new migrant workers was at its lowest, contributing to only 7% of all new entrants. Since then the number of new migrant workers has steadily climbed and in 2019 made up 17% of all new entrants in the trades. Hawke’s Bay, Tasman, Otago and Marlborough seem to be leading the demand for migrant workers.
Methodology
New entrants are defined as persons who first work at least three months above a minimum wage threshold of 120 hours (30 hours across 4 weeks). Of these new entrants we define their primary activity in the year leading up to starting work order of:
- Secondary school enrollments
- Tertiary enrollments
- Work in other sectors (career changers)
- Visa status (migrants)
- Overseas spells (returning kiwis)
- Beneficiaries
- Other
Such that a person with a tertiary enrollment and who is working in another sector in the year leading up to starting work in carpentry will be recorded once only as a tertiary student.
The below chart breaks down the sector that career changers were working in. The most common sector that career changers arrive from is the wider related sector, i.e. moving between different industries within the construction sector. However, in total these career changers only make up around a third of all career changers, with the majority arriving from unrelated sectors.
*Note that labour supply businesses will fall under 'Administrative and support services'.
Methodology
New entrants are defined as persons who first work at least three months above a minimum wage threshold of 120 hours (30 hours across 4 weeks).
Career changers are new entrants who do not have secondary or tertiary education records in the previous year, but some work experience (at least 3 months of full time work) in some other industry.
Access to the data used in this study was provided by Stats NZ under conditions designed to give effect to the security and confidentiality provisions of the Data and Statistics Act 2022. The results presented in this study are the work of the author, not Stats NZ or individual data suppliers.
These results are not official statistics. They have been created for research purposes from the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI) which is carefully managed by Stats NZ. For more information about the IDI please visit https://www.stats.govt.nz/integrated-data/.
The results are based in part on tax data supplied by Inland Revenue to Stats NZ under the Tax Administration Act 1994 for statistical purposes. Any discussion of data limitations or weaknesses is in the context of using the IDI for statistical purposes, and is not related to the data's ability to support Inland Revenue's core operational requirements.
