Pasifika doing better in NZ
The Salvation Army has published a report on the state of Pasifika people in New Zealand. Some of the positive changes:
- ECE enrolment rates up from 24% in 2008 to 28.8% today
- Suspension rate down from 7.1% in 2008 to 4.4% today – now lower than the NZ average
- NCEA Level 1 achievement rates up from 48% in 2008 to 63% today
- NCEA Level 2 achievement rates up from 54% in 2008 to 69% today
- NCEA Level 3 achievement rates up from 32% in 2008 to 43% today
- Drinks with hazardous drinking behaviours down from 23.4% to 17.8%
- Pasifika on benefits down from 24,914 in 2013 to 23,239 in 2014
- Median income in real terms up from $744 in 2008 to $767 today
- Pasifika offending rate down 27% over last five years
- Pasifika youth offending rate below NZ youth offending rate
Not all the stats are positive, such as home ownership rates. But considering most of the stats cover the period of the global financial crisis, I’d say that the changes overall are quite commendable. The educational improvements are, to me, the most important as they will have flow on effects with jobs, incomes and crime.