Most Pacific Islands economies are highly dependent on the tourism sector. Much of the employment opportunities in the tourism oriented islands such as Fiji, Samoa, Vanuatu and the Cook Islands—to name only a few—comes from the tourism sector. Countries where tourism is not among the top three revenue earners, naturally have fewer people employed in the sector as a percentage of the total work force. And without a sizeable organised manufacturing or industrial activity, or even for that matter, service sector activity, much of the labour force is employed in the informal sector or engaged in subsistence activity.
This is particularly true of Melanesian countries such as the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea where the tourism sector is far less developed than the Polynesian islands nations.
This combination of factors and a lack of opportunity because of lack of training facilities coupled with a lack of a well developed manufacturing industry has resulted in youth unemployment remaining relatively high in these countries for several years.
It is only in recent times that there have been any concerted attempts to train the youth of these countries across the Pacific Islands in vocational subjects.
On the forefront of this activity has been the Australian Technical College’s project with several facilities in the islands including Vanuatu, Fiji and Samoa. These are turning out vocationally trained young men and women in several sectors.
However, with other problems of infrastructure and the high costs of doing business in the islands, private investment in business and manufacturing has lagged and these increasing numbers of vocationally trained young people find avenues for employment relatively few and far between.
The governments, too, with poor funding sources and lack of vision have been unable to chip in to create enough employment opportunities for the youth. It is therefore not uncommon to see hordes of young, healthy and able bodied people whiling away their time in town squares in downtown Honiara or Port Moresby with nothing to do.
In such circumstances, last month’s employment promotion initiative by the World Bank which kicked off in the Solomon Islands, is a step in the right direction. The bank has approved an amount equivalent to US$3.2 million as a grant for the Solomon Islands Rapid Employment Project (REP).
The project, which is designed to provide short-term employment in and around the capital, Honiara, was prepared following a request by the Solomon Islands Government for the World Bank to review options for addressing urban unemployment two years ago in June 2008.
The Solomon Islands Rapid Employment Project aims to provide short-term employment opportunities and provide skills and experiences that are valued in the workplace.
The country’s Ministry of Infrastructure Development and the Honiara City Council will implement the innovative project, which will have two main components: The first, a Rapid Employment Scheme, will create roughly 500,000 labour days of work over the five years of the project which runs between 2010 and 2015. The scheme will focus on labour based public works such as road repair, foot path repair and construction, and garbage collection in and around Honiara. These tasks are the need of the hour, as any visitor to Honiara would agree.
The second component consists of Life-Skills Development training for participants in the employment scheme. AusAID and the New Zealand government are partnering the World Bank in providing funding and technical assistance to the project’s two implementing agencies.
The Rapid Employment Scheme is expected to cost US$7.2 million and is being financed by through additional grants from the World Bank, and from AusAID and New Zealand through the Pacific Region Infrastructure Facility.
As in the case of the Solomon Islands capital city of Honiara, unemployment is a serious and frequently expressed concern in throughout the Pacific Islands cities, particular in the Melanesian countries where tourism is less developed.
The provision of short term employment opportunities with initiatives such as the Rapid Employment Scheme will not only provide needed income but also workplace experience, while helping to maintain the city’s infrastructure while keeping the energies of the youth focused on doing constructive, gainful tasks.
It would be far more worthwhile if the government simultaneously promotes the growth of investment in industry and businesses built around the core activities such as the exploitation of natural resources—at least in countries like PNG and the Solomon Islands. This would include downstream processing facilities for activities like fisheries and logging.
While adding value to the raw product, it would also help develop the economy because local value addition activity would undoubtedly prove to be a wage earner for local workers. 
While this would need considerable investment and planning on the governments’ part, embarking on the path of the Rapid Employment Scheme is an excellent beginning to set the ball rolling.