Forestry
Workforce Demographics
Workforce dataset (size and demographics) 
Source: Stats NZ Integrated Data Infrastructure
Ethnicity
Māori are an important part of the workforce across the Forest industry group (Forestry, Logging, and Forestry Support Services). Around one third of those who work in the Forest industries identify as Māori which is higher than all other Muka Tangata industries. Just over 40% of those working in Logging and Forest Support Services identify as Māori. The Forestry industry is the least ethnically diverse, but there have been small increases in the percentage of Māori, Pacific peoples and Asian workers since 2015.
Forest Support Services has the highest percentage of workers identifying as Pacific peoples, compared to Logging and Forestry. The Forest industries have very few workers identifying as Asian compared to other industries across Muka Tangata and the national average (national benchmark).
Age
Across all the Forest industry group young people (aged 15-24) make up a smaller percentage of the workforce and older workers (aged 55 or older) make up a higher percentage compared to all Muka Tangata industries and the national average (national benchmark).
There are some differences within the Forest industries. Forestry has a much older workforce on average, with around three-quarters of the workforce aged 45 or older. Conversely, two-thirds of the Forest Support Services workforce are aged under 45.
Regional Distribution
Around three quarters of those who work in the Forest industries live in the North Island, with a wide distribution across the regions. The Auckland region has the highest percentage of workers in Forestry, whereas the Bay of Plenty has the highest percentage for Forest Support Services, and the Waikato and Bay of Plenty the highest percentage for Logging.
Gender
There is a low percentage of females working in the Forest industries compared to industries across Muka Tangata (36%) and the national average (national benchmark) of 47%, with only around one fifth of the workforce identifying as female. However, there are significant differences between the industries. Around one third of workers in Forestry are female compared to 10% in Logging. There has been a slow but steady increase in the percentage of females working in Forest Support Services since 2015.