Spotlight on Arborists

WORKFORCE

Workforce information on the Arboriculture Industry is difficult to obtain from official data sources as it is grouped together with other industries. Here, we present information from the census data currently available (2006, 2013, 2018) on people whose main occupation was identified as Arborist at the time of the census, which is considered to capture most working in the industry. We will update this information with census 2023 data when this becomes available.

In 2018, the number of Arborists was estimated to be 1614, which is nearly double that in 2013.  Around half were found in our Nursery, Turf and Gardening industry group and nearly one third (31%) were in industries outside of Muka Tangata.

Arborists are more likely to be younger workers, and to be male. A higher proportion of Arborists are younger workers. In 2018, 78% of Arborists were under 45 years of age, compared to 54% of workers across all occupations and 65% across Muka Tangata industries. There are very few female Arborists (3% in 2018).

Māori working as Arborists are well represented. In 2018, 19% of Arborists identified as Māori ethnicity. This is higher than the percentage of Māori workers across all other occupations (13%), and similar to the percentage of Māori workers across Muka Tangata industries (17%) in 2018.

Arborists have an increasing rate of qualification and a high percentage have Level 4 qualifications. In 2006 around one fifth of Arborists reported having no qualifications, by 2018 this was down to 10%. In 2018, a comparatively high percentage (33%) of Arborists held Level 4 qualifications compared to all other workers (9%), and workers across Muka Tangata industries (10%). Contributing factors for this are meeting the requirements for the Registered Master Arborist programme and the rising demand from local authorities and commercial organisations for registered arborists¹. 

Few Arborists work part-time (fewer than 30 hours per week).  The percentage of Arborists working part-time is very low (around 8%) compared to workers across all occupations (around 23%). Total personal income of Arborists has remained below that of workers in other occupations, despite the average hours worked per week being higher at 41.6 hours. Industry reports that Arborists often work longer than expected on a job, with customers looking for competitive pricing. 

Note we do not have information on wages for Arborists – this reflects income from all sources.

LEARNERS

In 2022, there were 1070 ākonga (learners) enrolled in a range of Arborist qualifications, with over half (565) as apprentices, 465 as trainees, and 40 as students. Nearly all ākonga were enrolled with an Industry Training Organisation. 

Overall enrolment numbers have increased over the last 10 years mainly in due to the increase in ākonga enrolled at Level 4. The number of apprentices enrolled steadily increased from 100 in 2013 to 565 in 2022, which may in part be due to the Targeted Training and Apprenticeship fund.

Note that ākonga are counted in each year they are enrolled, so those in multi-year programmes will be counted in each year.