A diverse and skilled workforce

The research and development workforce comprises technicians, support staff and researchers.

Researchers are defined as professionals who are engaged in the conception or creation of new knowledge. They conduct research and improve or develop concepts, theories, models, techniques, instrumentation, software or operational methods. They are typically involved in managing R&D projects. (See OECD Science, Technology and Industry Scoreboard page 104).

The make-up of the workforce varies by sector. Support and technical staff comprise approximately 43–46 per cent of personnel involved in R&D in the business and government sectors and 13 per cent in the higher education sector.

The R&D workforce increased by 47 per cent between 2010 and 2020. The business sector workforce had the greatest increase, with numbers more than doubling between 2010 and 2020. This compares to a 15 per cent increase in the higher education sector and a slight (0.6 per cent) increase in the government sector for the same period.

The R&D workforce (including researchers, support staff and technicians) has increased as a proportion of New Zealand’s total employed workforce since 2011. The R&D workforce made up 15.0 per 1000 New Zealanders employed in 2019, which was lower than other small advanced economies except Singapore.

In 2019, the researcher workforce (total researchers excluding support staff and technicians) comprised 10.8 per 1000 New Zealanders employed. This figure is lower than Denmark, Finland and Ireland, but higher than the OECD-Totals and Switzerland.

There is limited data to monitor the composition of the researcher workforce, but data from Performance-Based Research Fund (PBRF) evaluations give some indication for the tertiary sector.

In 2018, female researchers were under-represented in disciplines related to STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). They made up less than 25 per cent of researchers in fields such as engineering and technology, physics and computer science. In the same year, male researchers made up less than 30 per cent of researchers in nursing, Pacific research and education.

The ethnic makeup of the researcher workforce is substantially different to the total population. Ethnic diversity also varied across fields of research.

The Māori population of New Zealand is 16.5 per cent, but in 35 of 43 fields of research, less than 5 per cent of researchers are Māori. Computer science, information technology, and information science fields have the lowest proportion of Māori researchers. In contrast, Māori knowledge and development, and visual arts and crafts have the highest proportions of Māori researchers.

Pacific Peoples comprise 8.1 per cent of the total New Zealand population, but make up less than 5 per cent of the total researchers in all fields except for Pacific research. Engineering technology and molecular, cellular and whole organism biology have the lowest proportion of Pacific researchers. Pacific research and public health have the highest proportions of Pacific researchers.

Since 2019, MBIE has implemented the equity, diversity and inclusion initiative to enable a science research system that attracts, promotes and reflects the diversity of New Zealanders.

Growth in the R&D workforce depends on increasing students’ mathematics and science skills at all levels. In early education, these are foundational skills for further technical and academic learning.

The trend shows that while relatively high numbers of students undertake STEM subjects in NCEA Level 1, this decreases significantly by NCEA Level 3. This reflects a decision by students not to pursue STEM subjects, which has implications for the RSI pipeline.

The proportion of bachelor and postgraduate students gaining qualifications in STEM subjects increased for domestic and international students from 2009 to 2019. International students were more likely than domestic students to complete undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in STEM subjects.

Since 2009, there has been no sustained upward trend in the number of domestic STEM doctorates. However, there has been an increase in international students awarded STEM doctorates, and this has contributed to the overall growth in doctorate completions.

These trends suggest the science and research pipeline is increasingly reliant on international students and immigrants joining the RSI workforce.

A large proportion of researchers have a doctorate degree. For New Zealanders, more than half of domestic doctoral graduates are female (55% in 2019). More international doctoral graduates are male (54% in 2019).

Domestic students are more likely to work in New Zealand after completing their degrees than international students. Trends in degree completions for this group are particularly important for the future diversity of the workforce.

The proportion of Māori, Pacific Peoples and Asian students is low among domestic PhD graduates. This has implications for the diversity of the RSI workforce in the future.

Māori and Pacific Peoples are also under-represented in the total number of PhD graduates compared to the ethnic mix of the New Zealand population. Between 2009 and 2019, Māori comprised almost 7 per cent of domestic doctoral graduates and Pacific Peoples about 3 per cent.

There were minimal increases in the number of doctoral completions by Māori and Pacific Peoples in the past decade. Also, the number of domestic Asian students has not reflected the five-fold increase in the number of international Asian students, which is a growing market for education.

In general, domestic students are under-represented in STEM subjects, which are important for the RSI workforce. This under-representation has increased in the past decade.

For both domestic and international students, more than 70 per cent of doctoral completions are in four research fields: engineering and related technologies, health, natural and physical sciences, and society and culture. The proportion of domestic students in these fields varies. For example, in 2019, 36 per cent of engineering and related technology PhD students were domestic students compared to 42 per cent in natural and physical sciences, 61 per cent in health, and 60 per cent in society and culture.

Migrants bring valuable skills to the RSI system. The international movement of researchers and innovators also creates opportunities to build connections with overseas research institutions and businesses.

STEM professionals that can be identified in migration data include natural and physical science professionals, business and systems analysts and programmers, database and systems administrators, ICT security specialists, and ICT network and support professionals.

Between 2010 and 2018, there was a net increase in STEM professionals migrating to New Zealand. Changes to the immigration data sources in November 2018 and COVID-19 related border closures and travel disruptions, mean that a more recent trend cannot be presented here.

Although similar to the arrival and departure migration trends of STEM professionals (see figure 52), the number of natural and physical science professionals is much lower. There was, however, a net increase in science professionals between 2010 and 2018.

Changes to the immigration data sources in November 2018 and COVID-19 related border closures and travel disruptions, mean that a more recent trend cannot be presented here.