While Wairarapa communities remain cut off from their livelihoods and the government moves to claw back welfare payments from ACC clients, here's a question nobody's asking: why did serious workplace injuries among young New Zealanders just hit their lowest point in 24 years?

In 2024, 15,957 workers under 30 suffered fatal or serious injuries on the job. That's down from 40,086 in 2021 — a 59% drop in just three years. (Source: Stats NZ / ACC, fatal-serious-injuries)

This isn't a blip. This is the culmination of a decade-long trend that accelerated dramatically after COVID. In 2020, before the pandemic properly hit, nearly 40,000 young workers were getting seriously hurt. Four years later, that number has been cut by more than half.

The trajectory is stark. From 2000 to 2015, the number of serious injuries among under-30s hovered between 35,000 and 42,000 every year. Then something shifted. By 2019, it was down to 34,000. Then COVID arrived, and the decline became a freefall. 2022 saw the number drop to 17,055 — less than half the 2020 figure. It's barely budged since, sitting at 15,957 last year.

So what changed? Part of it is obvious: fewer young people are working in the most dangerous sectors. Construction, forestry, manufacturing — the industries that used to chew through young bodies — have been shedding workers for years. The ones who remain are older, more experienced, better trained.

But there's something else at play. The post-COVID workplace is fundamentally different. Health and safety protocols that used to be optional are now standard. Site inductions that once took 20 minutes now take half a day. The cowboy culture that defined some of these industries — where young workers were expected to prove themselves by taking risks — has been systematically dismantled.

And Gen Z workers don't tolerate unsafe conditions the way previous generations did. They're more likely to speak up, more likely to refuse dangerous work, more likely to walk off a job site that doesn't meet basic safety standards. Employers know this. The labour market has shifted just enough that they can't afford to lose young workers over preventable injuries.

None of this helps the communities cut off by this week's storm. But as we debate how to support people through disasters and economic upheaval, here's one thing that's quietly working: making workplaces safer for the people who can least afford to get hurt. The data says we've cracked it. Now the question is whether we can hold onto these gains when the economy tightens and corners start getting cut again.