Fiji continues to be the largest contributor of Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) workers in New South Wales, with 1,190 Fijians employed across the Australian state as of April 2026, according to the latest PALM Scheme data.
The figures show 355 women and 835 men from Fiji are working under the scheme, making Fiji the largest workforce among the 10 participating Pacific countries in New South Wales.
Overall, New South Wales hosts 5,710 PALM workers, with Fijians accounting for just over one in every five workers.
Vanuatu ranks second with 920 workers, followed by the Solomon Islands (810), Papua New Guinea (805), Samoa (670), Timor-Leste (515), Kiribati (400), Tonga (330), Tuvalu (65) and Nauru (5).
Across all participating countries, male workers make up 80.4 per cent of the workforce (4,590), while female workers account for 19.6 per cent (1,120).
The PALM scheme enables eligible Australian employers to recruit workers from Pacific island countries and Timor-Leste to address labour shortages, while providing participants with employment opportunities, skills development and income that supports families and communities back home.
