Employers in Fiji want full access to their 1 per cent Fiji National University levy to help attract, train and retain local workers amid ongoing labour shortages.
Fiji Commerce & Employers Federation chief executive Edward Bernard said hiring foreign workers was not the first choice for employers because of the high associated costs.
“Recruiting foreign workers is not the first preference of employers. This is because recruiting foreign workers is not relatively cheap – recruitment cost, airfares and bond alone can amount to an average cost of $3,000 per foreign worker,” he said.
The 2026 Skills Gap Assessment report noted that employers are instead looking at options such as upskilling and reskilling existing workers, re-engaging retired employees and hiring more locals.
However, businesses can currently only access 10 per cent of the 1 per cent FNU levy they contribute towards training.
According to the survey findings, around 4,800 employers contributed an average of $25 million annually between 2019 and 2024, but only accessed an average of $2.5 million a year in return. This worked out to roughly $520 per contributing employer annually.
Mr Bernard said employers should be able to access 100 per cent of their training contributions and called for an independent employer-led institution to manage the funds.
He said greater access to the levy could support more innovative workforce development programmes, including workplace exposure opportunities for students and teachers, improved internship and apprenticeship schemes, and initiatives supporting women, youth and people living with disabilities.
The findings come after Cabinet recently approved access to a specific portion of the levy for Government training purposes, with employers now questioning what support would be available for the private sector.
The survey was led by Fiji Commerce & Employers Federation in partnership with the Fiji Human Resource Institute and the Higher Education Commission Fiji, with funding provided by the Ministry of Finance.
It is Fiji’s first published labour demand survey and was conducted by the Fiji Bureau of Statistics between November 2025 and February 2026.
The survey targeted 410 companies and achieved a 91 per cent response rate, with participating employers accounting for 33.4 per cent of Fiji’s formal sector workforce.
