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Browse the 1966 Encyclopaedia of New Zealand
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Graphic: An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand 1966.

Warning

This information was published in 1966 in An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, edited by A. H. McLintock. It has not been corrected and will not be updated.

Up-to-date information can be found elsewhere in Te Ara.

NORTH AUCKLAND REGION

Contents


Regional Labour Force

The North Auckland Employment District, whose limits correspond closely with those of the region, had in April 1961 35·29 per cent of its total civilian labour force engaged in primary industry. Apart from the Coromandel region, which is small, North Auckland, with a total labour force of 27,000, has the highest proportion engaged in primary industry for the whole country. Only 14·7 per cent are engaged in manufacturing industry, compared with the national average of 26·04 per cent. During the last decade the total population of the region increased by only 15·23 per cent, compared with the national rate of 24··46 per cent. Growth was very slow amongst the rural population, 5·44 per cent, but very rapid amongst the urban population, 49·71 per cent. The growth of the total labour force, April 1953 to April 1961, by 8·8 per cent was well below the national rate of 18·24 per cent. The rate of growth of the manufacturing labour force during the same period was 21·21 per cent. This, while higher, fell below the national rate of 24.14 per cent.

There is little wonder that North Auckland appears as an enigma amongst other New Zealand regions; it conforms to the standard in so few ways. Whatever aspect or index one chooses – the proportion of the population located in rural areas, employed in primary industries; the lower stage of economic development attained of which these features are representative; the distinctive qualities of the urban hierarchy; the high proportion of Maoris and the considerable migration and social change amongst them – they serve only to emphasise how different the region is from the rest of the country and how obscure its potential remains.