Fiji is losing skilled blue and white-collar workers with 60 accountants the latest to exit the country.
Economy Minister Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum highlighted the huge loss of skilled Fijians to overseas countries when he was in Sigatoka recently.
“We understand that this year there’s about 60 accountants that have migrated,” he said.
“We’ve had the loss of teachers also to Australia.”
He said Australia was finding it difficult to send teachers to rural remote communities in the outback.
“So a lot of teachers have been picked up who teach maths, science and physics.
“The good thing for us or the positive aspect of it is that we do have a very young population – 70 per cent of the population is below the age of 40, 65 per cent of the population is below the age of 35.
“We are investing very heavily in the education sector and upskilling our people.”
Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said additional funding was provided in the 2022-2023 budget in the micro qualifications area.
“There is a huge shortage of people such as bricklayers, tile layers, plaster people in that sort of what generally is termed the blue-collar sector.
“Now, as the economy is opening up, construction companies are making applications to bring in workers from Bangladesh because there is a huge lack of skill sets in those areas.
“We’ve had a number of our trained people whether they’re doing refrigeration, air-conditioning, even bricklaying, joinery and carpentry that left Fiji after the Christchurch earthquake when Christchurch had to rebuild, so a lot of them went there.
“So, again, we see a shortage in skill sets.”
