FIJI’s labour market has increased by 18.7 per cent, says deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of Fiji Ariff Ali.
He said RBF had noted a significant increase in employment in the construction, manufacturing, wholesale and trade sectors.
Finance Minister Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum said there was potential to grow Fiji’s labour market in specific areas and Government was working on acquiring a skilled labour market.
“There is a need for skill sets and there are a lot of areas in which we require a lot more skilled people and this is why we have set up 13 technical colleges throughout Fiji,” he said.
“We are working with educational organisations where entire schools that had lower numbers have now been converted into technical colleges.
“Some of the one-month courses are offered for free.
“We have a population of less than one million people and we have had a huge brain drain in Fiji.
“So now we have policies to try and entice the younger people to stay in Fiji.
“We are trying to educate people so we have TELS.”
He said tertiary institutions had also been approached to realign courses according to the demands of the employment sector.
“We want them to offer courses that will go with what is in demand in various industries.
“We have the manufacturing, trade and construction industries that are coming up which we supply the human resources for and that is where these institutions come in.”
