Fiji - Working conditions

Fiji's workforce numbers around 310,000 people, and the official unemployment rate hovers at a low 6 percent. This figure is misleading since only a third of this work-force is in paid employment; the remaining two-thirds are

GDP per Capita (US$)
Country	1975	1980	1985	1990	1998
Fiji	2,086	2,319	2,102	2,356	2,416
United States	19,364	21,529	23,200	25,363	29,683
Philippines	974	1,166	967	1,064	1,092
Solomon Islands	419	583	666	784	753
SOURCE: United Nations. Human Development Report 2000; Trends in human development and per capita income.

Household Consumption in PPP Terms
Country	All food	Clothing and footwear	Fuel and power a	Health care b	Education b	Transport & Communications	Other
Fiji	35	5	19	2	13	4	23
United States	13	9	9	4	6	8	51
Philippines	37	3	11	1	14	1	32
Solomon Islands	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Data represent percentage of consumption in PPP terms.
a Excludes energy used for transport.
b Includes government and private expenditures.
SOURCE: World Bank. World Development Indicators 2000.

subsistence farmers and fishermen (subsistence workers produce just enough goods to support their own subsistence, with rarely any surplus to sell and generate additional income). There are 4 times as many young people in the workforce as there are available jobs. The unemployment rate also conceals large-scale under-employment such as seasonal workers in agriculture and casual laborers in the construction industry. While the numbers of wage and salary workers have been rising (8.5 percent over the period from 1993 to 1998), Fiji's economic crisis threatens to offset these gains. The loss of tens of thousands of professionals and skilled workers through out-migration has also produced a skills deficit, which poses a further obstacle to future growth. Labor disputes are another symptom of tension, and in 1999, an average of 19.7 worker-days were lost due to strikes, though this figure was atypically high. Part of the government's recovery program is to deregulate the workforce and shrink the public sector .