Fiji rakes in $m from overseas jobs

Samisoni Pareti

Fiji is catching up fast on the world's latest lucrative exporting commodity: human labour. So much so that remittances by these growing number of Fijians employed overseas have grown to become the second largest source of foreign exchange by the end of 2004.

While no official figures are available on the total number of Fiji nationals now working abroad, the country's Reserve Bank puts remittances by the end of December last year at F$317 million.

Fiji's Labour Minister Kenneth Zinck says he won't be surprised if this rises to $350 million, or even $400 million by the end of this year. Majority of those who work in the Middle East are employed in war-torn Iraq and neighbouring Kuwait.

More than 1000 Fiji people have also been recruited by the British Army, while a sizeable number work, some illegally, in Australia, New Zealand, the United States, and even in Pacific islands states like the Cook Islands, Nauru, Northern Marianas and the Marshalls.

“As a government we don't have the right to stop them. It is their constitutional right, if they get a work visa, well good on them,” explains Zinck.

“As a government, all we can do is facilitate and ensure they are protected. That's where government comes in. I believe it is our obligation to ensure that wherever they work, they are protected and I don't doubt the capabilities of these companies to look after our people offshore.”

That may be so, but Zinck's ministry still moved to bring some order and accountability into the overseas job rush. In March, Zinck got the Fiji cabinet to endorse an overseas recruitment policy.

He declined to say it during his interview with ISLANDS BUSINESS, but the policy was prompted in part by concerns that some local recruiters were abusing the process. One of them was charging recruitment fees ranging from F$170 to F$300 per application. By the end of April, this same company had recruited up to 20,000 mainly Fijian men.

Zinck and other supporters of the overseas job rush are not without critics. The Suva-based peace lobbyist Pacific Concerns Resources Centre (PCRC) has been vocal in its opposition to what it terms as “a form of 21st century black-birding”.

“PCRC is totally opposed to the war based on moral grounds-the United States violated international law and we know that the United States would not go to war if it did not have any economic interests in Iraq, so it had to promote and advance the interests of its oil, global and military corporations,” said Ema Tagicakibau, who mans the centre's peace and demilitarisation desk.

“After the war and destruction of infrastructure, the United States then awards its own contractors billions of dollars for reconstruction works. But instead of employing Americans or Iraqis that would cost more, they recruit from third world countries such as Fiji, as a form of 21st century black-birding.”

Tagicakibau does not even buy the argument that such jobs are helping Fijians put food on the table and in many ways, raising their living standards.

“If employment is narrowly viewed as contracting one's labour out for monetary gains, then how did these families eat in the past?

“And how long will this go on? At whose cost? This is a war zone, and to expose Fijians in large numbers to face possible death or illnesses for the sake of food on the table, is hardly worth it.

“After all, these same Fijians own resources which could be a source of wealth, through self employment and by taking advantage of the affirmative action policies of government.”

But economist Sunil Kumar of the University of the South Pacific (USP) recognises that export of labour does have direct and indirect benefits to the economy.

“One, the workers salaries are ploughed back into the Fiji economy directly benefitting families of the workers,” Kumar said.

“Later, the increased demand makes its round in the economy at large and creates employment. Such employment opportunities also bring benefits in many indirect ways. For instance, it can contribute to a reduction in crime.”

That is the upside. Kumar, like Tagicakibau, does worry about the impact of mass export of skilled labour, both in the short and long-term. If such export does cause labour shortages in critical or growth industries, this may force wages upwards, therefore making exports less competitive in the world market.

“It may also have serious implications for our general welfare, for example, the kind of impact caused by migration of health workers.

“So to cater for those shortages we may have to set up training institutions to control the damage, which may take years to happen.

“Failing that, we may have to consider alternatives, which are often very slim for developing countries like Fiji, in case it would be costly to replace such skilled workers.

“The most important question is whether we have the political will or even the resources to tap alternatives.”

Kumar said this would be particularly true for the loss of skilled and professional workers. But losing “semi-skilled” or even “unskilled” workers” may not be a bad idea especially in sectors where there is a labour surplus. The USP economist named such sectors as security and land transport.

Tagicakibau's PCRC does have its own thoughts about alternatives. Getting these overseas-based workers to come into the local superannuation scheme or other compulsory savings initiatives may be one way to go.

Concerns about the likely social cost of having a large number of families without their fathers for long periods overseas has seen the Great Council of Chiefs caught in the middle of the overseas job rush debate.

The council says it supports any effort that will elevate the standards of living of Fijians. To prove its point, the council has been busy adding up the figures.

“An analysis of the figures from the Bureau of Statistics on estimated population of Fijian males for 2000 reveals that the proposed 15,000 personnel that are to be recruited equates to a mere 0.09% of the 216,107 total Fijian males,” the Great Council of Chiefs said in a statement.

“However, in terms of earnings, with an average pay of F$3000 per person per month, this will translate to F$540 million per annum in foreign exchange. This is equivalent to 45% of our national budget and substantially surpassing sugar earnings of F$310 million by some 42%.”

The council may be right except that it may be using the wrong data. Already, one of the overseas recruiting companies, PWC Logistics, has told a local daily newspaper that of the 20,000 recruited by its local agent, they have jobs for only 2200.

But there is no denying that such overseas jobs bring in the much needed foreign exchange to an economy that has had a lacklustre response to attempts to prop it up with increased exports and more investment.

In fact, Minister Zinck believes countries like the United States can assist by legalising the status of Fijians who now work illegally as caregivers there.

“For a country like Fiji, it will be good if they can give amnesty to our people there because these people are actually sending money home to feed their families. All I'm asking the government of the United States is to give our people amnesty at least, now that WTO has ordered the United States to scrap the garment export quota it usually offers us.”

Asked to comment on Zinck's call for amnesty, the American ambassador to Fiji, David Lyons said President Bush has been considering some sort of a legal relief for overseas workers in the United States, but nothing has gone to the United States Congress as yet.

He said it was not clear too whether both houses in the United States Congress would support such a scheme.