PERSONAL income and employment continue to be a serious priority for the International Labour Organization (ILO), with more than 66.2 per cent of Fijian workers now expected to be working in the informal employment sector, says ILO project coordinator Edward Bernard.
He said it was important for development partners including Government to support the informal sector as it continued to provide income for those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“All of this started from the rapid assessment that the ILO did to see the impact that COVID did on livelihoods and household incomes and this also linked to the UN’s socio impact assessment last year,” he said.
“If you remember that the Prime Minister (of Fiji) went on air last year and stated that about 115,000 people have either had their hours or pay reduced or have been made redundant. Now we have to ask ourselves where are these 115,000 people going?
“They are now moving into the informal sector.”
He said the percentage of workers in the informal sector had increased significantly after the global pandemic.
“Before COVID, the informal sector workers made up 66.2 per cent of total workers and when these formal sector workers lost their jobs last year and they moved to the informal sector, that percentage inflated to about 80 or even 90 per cent.
“Because in the past the informal sector did not have much support, we are trying to change that.
“This project is trying to shift the focus and support to the informal sector so that they have access to services that could help them boost their businesses and livelihoods.”
