Commercial Road Transport industry insights
Explore the latest industry insights from Infometrics to learn more about the industries we work with and how they’re evolving.
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Commercial Road Transport industry summary
Employment in 2025
In 2025, the commercial road transport sector employed 60,078 people, representing 2.2% of all filled jobs in New Zealand.
Employment growth averaged 0.5% per year between 2020 and 2025, compared to the overall national employment growth of 1.3%. Stronger growth is forecast, with employment expected to increase by 1.8% per year between 2026 and 2031, compared with 1.4% nationally.
Businesses in the sector
In 2025, there were 12,486 commercial road transport businesses operating in New Zealand. These businesses accounted for 1.9% of all business units nationally.
Future workforce demand
Between 2026 and 2031, commercial road transport is expected to generate 18,022 total job openings. These openings include:
- 5,028 new jobs created through employment growth
- 12,994 replacement job openings, reflecting workforce turnover.
Where people work
- Auckland: 19,666
- Bay of Plenty: 4,358
- Waikato: 6,599
- Wellington: 3,845
- Canterbury: 8,828
- Rest of North Island: 9.450
- Rest of South Island: 7.332
Top occupations
The top five occupations in 2025 were:
- Truck Driver: 32,199 jobs
- Storeperson: 1,623 jobs
- Tanker Driver: 1,291 jobs
- Office Manager: 1,200 jobs
- Delivery Driver: 1,166 jobs
These represent 37,478 jobs, 62.4% of total Commercial Road Transport in New Zealand.
Self-employment in 2025
In 2025, 9,421 workers in the commercial road transport sector were self‑employed, representing a 15.7% self‑employment rate.
This is at a similar rate to the national average of 15.2% and is showing to be steady in recent years, after a drop of around 10% between 2000–2018.
Sector productivity
In 2025, the sector generated $7,204 million in GDP, contributing 1.7% of New Zealand’s total GDP.
GDP declined slightly between 2020 and 2025, at an average rate of ‑0.7% per year.
Over the longer period 2015–2025, GDP grew at 1.2% per year, below overall national growth.
Productivity, measured as GDP per full‑time equivalent (FTE), was $128,174, compared with $174,045 across New Zealand.
Ethnicity of workers
In 2025, the workforce was predominantly European, at a slightly lower rate than the national workforce.
Māori and Pacific Peoples are at a higher representation than in total New Zealand employment, with slightly less representation for Asian workers.
Highest post‑school qualifications (2023)
Almost 60% of the commercial road transport workforce hold no formal qualifications.
Age profile of workers
The age profile of commercial road transport workers broadly reflects the national workforce.
- Workers aged 25–64 make up the largest share of employment.
- Workers aged 15–44 are present at a lower level to the national average.
- Older workers aged 45+ are represented at higher levels to the national workforce.
Female participation
Women made up 13.9% of the commercial road transport workforce in 2025, compared with 48% across New Zealand.
Female participation in the sector has remained relatively stable over time, with a slight increase in recent years.
Hours worked
Commercial road transport workers were more likely to work longer hours than the national workforce.
The largest share worked 40–49 hours per week, with a high proportion also working 50 hours or more, compared with New Zealand overall.
Fewer workers were employed in part‑time hour brackets.
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These reports were defined by MITO Limited. Data sourced from Infometrics and Statistics New Zealand.