The government will soon be able to strengthen its approach to employment opportunities, particularly for migrants, as it seeks to address long-standing challenges in filling critical employment sectors.

This follows the completion of the 2023-2024 Employment and Unemployment Survey, conducted by the Fiji Bureau of Statistics.

While previous surveys indicated an unemployment rate of around 4.5%, this new data will provide a more detailed breakdown, including age groups, sectors and specific geographies.

Director-General Kemueli Naiqama said the survey will provide essential information on the country’s labor market, helping to identify areas where the government needs to focus its efforts to reduce unemployment and close employment gaps.

“Similarly, it will be broken down into desegregated levels. Regarding the age group, we can then determine to which age group most unemployed citizens belong. And it will help policymakers look at particular sectors that can help unemployed people find jobs.

Naiqama adds that the next step is to analyze and clean the data, with the final report expected by mid-2025.