Fiji’s latest Employment and Unemployment Survey, released as preliminary figures by the Fiji Bureau of Statistics, paints a detailed picture of how the country’s 296,826-strong workforce is distributed across urban and rural areas and across different sectors. The data show a clear urban-rural split: 167,943 Fijians are employed in urban areas, while 128,883 are employed in rural Fiji.
Key occupational patterns emerge when breaking down jobs by location:
– Services and sales is the largest sector, with 53,470 workers, of which about 36,966 are in urban areas, leaving roughly 16,500 in rural settings.
– Skilled agricultural and fishery workers number 54,691 in total, with a strong rural skew: 48,714 are employed in rural Fiji.
– Professionals total 32,990 workers, and roles in elementary occupations, craft and trade-related jobs each sit in the low- to mid-30,000 range.
– The data highlight a clear urban concentration in services and professional roles, while rural employment is more rooted in agriculture and fishery work.
Formal, informal, and household sectors
– The formal sector remains the largest segment, employing 194,733 people, comprised of 122,851 males and 71,882 females.
– The informal sector accounts for 97,654 workers, with a gender split of 71,953 males and 25,701 females.
– The household sector is the smallest, with 4,438 workers, of which 3,809 are females and 629 are males.
What this means for Fiji
– The urban workforce appears heavily oriented toward services and professional occupations, while the rural workforce remains more anchored in agriculture and fishery. This underscores the ongoing rural-urban divide in the job landscape.
– Gender patterns show men leading in formal and informal paid work, while the household sector is predominantly female. This points to persistent gender dynamics in the labor market and potential areas for targeted policy interventions to broaden female participation across more sectors.
– The size of the formal sector relative to informal and household work suggests continued reliance on formal jobs, but with substantial informal employment as a parallel channel.
Related context from earlier reports
– Ongoing discussions in similar analyses note that a sizable share of Fiji’s workforce is tied to agriculture, sales, and service sectors, with formal employment gradually growing while emigration trends have historically shaped labor market dynamics.
– Recent coverage has highlighted efforts to align education and training with market needs, reduce emigration, and support reforms aimed at expanding local employment opportunities. A stabilizing domestic labor supply and improving retention of skilled workers are frequently cited as hopeful signs for future growth.
Summary
– Fiji’s 2023-24 Employment and Unemployment Survey shows a total workforce of 296,826, with urban employment outpacing rural in services and professional roles, and rural employment concentrated in agriculture and fishery.
– The formal sector remains the largest employer, followed by informal and household sectors, with clear gender splits across categories.
– The data reinforce the need for targeted skills development and sector-specific programs to balance opportunities between urban and rural areas and to broaden female participation in the workforce.
Additional value and interpretation
– Policy implications could include expanding vocational and technical training aligned to the needs of urban services and rural agriculture, investment in digital and value-added agricultural initiatives to lift rural productivity, and programs that support equal opportunities for women across formal and informal sectors.
– Monitoring, alongside ongoing reforms and retention strategies, could help convert these structural patterns into more broadly shared prosperity across Fiji’s diverse regions.
Leave a comment