44,100 individuals worked in the Dairy Farming industry across 2021, with one third being either self-employed or working as an employer.
Since 2015, there have been changes in the makeup of the Dairy workforce. There has been a decrease in the percentage of young people aged 15-24, and an increase in the percentage of the workforce identifying as Asian. Compared to workers across all of Muka Tangata industries in 2021, the Dairy Farming workforce has fewer older workers aged 55 and over, and fewer identifying as Māori.
The number of individuals working in the Dairy Farming industry has been decreasing since 2017. While the overall size of the workforce has decreased the proportion of employees to employers or self-employed has remained fairly stable.
There are seasonal peaks in the number of individuals employed in Dairy. Numbers of employees tend to peak over August through to December and are lowest around June and July. Peak employee numbers have remained consistent between 2018 and 2022, but there has been an increasing trend in the number of employees working in the off season.