Recently available supply-side data points to a growing disconnect within Fiji’s labour market.
Fiji continues to invest in education and training, yet employers face persistent labour and skills shortages while many qualified and experienced workers take up opportunities overseas.
The labour market is increasingly meeting the workforce needs of other countries without adequately meeting Fiji’s own.
These findings support what FCEF and its members have been raising for some time: Fiji is facing a labour and skills crisis that requires clear leadership and coordinated national action.
Higher numbers and funding don’t mean better results
The 2024 Annual Report of the Fiji National University (FNU) showed a 37.6 per cent year-on-year growth, with a standout growth recorded with its National Training & Productivity Centre (NTPC).
The NTPC recorded a total of 8169 students, a 27.31 per cent increase.
The enrolment of 26,738 students in 2025 reflects an increasing interest in upskilling and vocational training programs.
This could also mean increased access to education and training.
Since the establishment of the Tertiary Scholarships and Loan Service (TSLS), Government has invested approximately $1.418 billion in tertiary scholarships.
More than 90,000 students have accessed this funding.
However, the latest media reports now show that more than 33,000 TSLS scholarship recipients have failed to complete their studies or had their awards terminated.
This non completion has come at a cost of $235 million to Government and tax payers.
Back in 2024, TSLS reported that $11.6m was unspent due to low student interests.
This was part of the allocation that covered TVET programs and medical studies.
It was also found that a significant number of funded places were not taken up by students, with the largest shortfall in TVET with 3098 places at FNU and 62 places at other institutions.
A tracer study of 7528 graduates we graduated in the last three years was undertaken. 3540 or 53 per cent were identified as employed.
The rest of the 48 per cent were not recorded as employed and had no employment records identified by FNPF.
What it should have meant
By now, Fiji’s high enrolment numbers and multi-million-dollar investment into tertiary scholarships should be producing measurable returns, particularly in TVET-related fields.
Businesses should now be benefiting from higher productivity, providing greater capacity to pay higher wages and narrowing the wage-productivity gap.
Employers would have greater access to workers with the required skills, qualifications and workplace behaviours.
Increasing workplace productivity and progressing towards the annual productivity growth target of 3.2 per cent set out in the National Productivity Master Plan 2021–2036.
Fiji’s enterprises and industries would be more competitive and contributing towards the 5 per cent GDP growth envisaged in the National Development Plan 2025–2029. With stronger productivity and workforce capability, businesses would be better equipped to manage the competitive pressures that could arise if Fiji joins trade agreements like PACER Plus.
The reality of where we are
Many of our qualified, skilled and experienced people are leaving for opportunities in Australia and New Zealand. Raising an important and highly relevant question – how many FNU graduates supported through TSLS scholarships have since left the country?
In May 2026, FCEF launched its National Skills Gaps Analysis Survey.
Led by the private sector, it was Fiji’s first demand side survey of its kind.
The report identified 95 broad skills and positions that employers were finding difficult to fill with locals.
The findings also confirmed that employers’ first preference is to skill and re-skill locals.
However, employers cannot access 100 per cent of the FNU levy they contribute towards training, thus limiting their ability to address immediate workforce needs.
The current arrangement of managing the levy by FNU, is in fact adding to the dysfunctionality of the labour market.
The FNU Bill 27 of 2026 further solidifies FNU’s and the Government’s control over the employers training levy.
If passed, 40 per cent – approximately $9m – moves from the Accident Compensation Commission of Fiji (ACCF) to the Ministry of Employment through the Work Care Bill.
This move starves the employers from accessing training funds to improve workforce capability.
As local skills shortages continue, more than 770 employers are bringing in foreign workers.
By January 2025, approximately 6400 work permits had been issued, with most going to workers in construction, manufacturing, tourism and service industries.
In September 2026 alone, work-permit applications reached 1080 – the highest number recorded in a single month.
Foreign workers are not a source of cheap labour. Employers spend an average of $3000 on recruitment, bonds and airfares before employment costs are considered.
Yet Fiji’s youth unemployment rate stands at 10.1 per cent, the proportion of young people not in employment, education or training is 26.6 per cent, and labour underutilisation is 12.5 per cent.
Together, these figures demonstrate the disconnect within Fiji’s labour market: employers are investing in overseas recruitment to address immediate shortages while a significant proportion of Fiji’s available workforce remains underutilised.
Demand side knows better
Fiji’s labour market will not work effectively unless employers—the demand side—have a meaningful role in determining the training, skills and qualifications tertiary institutions provide.
The cost of the current disconnect is high for employers, and there is a limit to how much additional cost businesses can absorb.
Many are responding by investing in automation, digitalisation and artificial intelligence to maintain operations and improve productivity.
Tertiary institutions receive substantial Government funding and must remain accountable for the outcomes of that investment.
This requires closer collaboration with employers to ensure programs respond to workforce demand; students have stronger pathways into employment and public investment in education and training produces measurable returns for Fiji.
