Signing Of The First Managed Intra-Pacific Labour Mobility Programme

Tamakautoga, Niue – The Inter-Agency Understanding (IAU) which governs the Niue-Solomon Islands Labour Mobility Pilot is being signed today in Tamakautoga, Niue by the governments of Niue and Solomon Islands. The Pilot is the first managed intra-Pacific labour mobility programme for the Pacific and is facilitated through the Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations (PACER) Plus Labour Mobility Secretariat under the framework of the PACER Plus Arrangement on Labour Mobility (ALM).

The movement of Pacific workers to find employment in other Pacific countries is not new. For centuries, this has been the practice and in recent history was largely subject to individuals responding to job opportunities advertised or inter-departmental arrangement for Pacific individuals. While such movement has its benefits, there is consensus that managed labour mobility programmes administered through bilateral labour migration agreements can deliver triple wins for the workers, their countries of origin, and the countries of destination that receive them.

These mutual benefits have prompted the proliferation of labour mobility schemes such as the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) and the New Zealand Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) schemes. However, there has been limited effort to progress bilateral intra-pacific labour mobility programmes until the Niue-Solomon Islands Labour Mobility Pilot signed today in Tamakautoga, Niue.

Niue was formally recognised as a labour receiving country during the 2022 Pacific Labour Mobility Annual Meeting (PLMAM), where they registered their interest to receive labour from other Pacific countries to meet acute labour shortages in the country. A scoping study by the PACER Plus Implementation Unit in early 2023 identified the health sector as priority and recommended a short-term pilot programme to trial intra-Pacific labour mobility and to later inform the design of a more sustainable longer term labour mobility scheme for the country.

In November 2023, the Niuean government endorsed the proposal for a pilot programme for the health sector and the PACER Plus Implementation Unit then worked with the governments of Niue and Solomon Islands to develop an Inter-Agency Understanding (IAU) that would deliver mutual benefits to both governments particularly the Solomon Island workers and the Niue Health Sector which will employ them. The Pilot covers four Solomon Island nurses who will work in the Niue health sector for six months commencing from August 2024.

The Permanent Secretary for the Solomon Island Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade (MFAET), Mr. Colin Beck said: "Solomon Islands economic growth is not keeping up with its fast-growing population; more than 20,000 youths annually look for jobs. The narrow economic base of the country is unable to generate sufficient employment for all. There is also a large number of nurses graduating out of Solomon Islands national institutions each year. The retirement age in Solomon Islands is 55 years, thus we have experienced retired nurses available for job opportunities in overseas market. The Niue-Solomon Islands Labour Mobility Pilot puts a human face to the two nation's relations and presents a new beginning in strengthening of people-centered relations that can grow and diversify to other sectors. Solomon Islands has a deep work ready pool we can draw on."

As requested by the Niuean government, the Pilot will target retired Solomon Island nurses below the Niuean retirement age of 60 due to their vast experience. The nurses will predominantly work in the Niuean aged care unit but will also serve as general nurses in the main hospital in Alofi.

For Niue, acute labour shortages exists as a critical development constraint across all sectors. Honourable Crossley Tatui, Minister for Infrastructure and Finance in Niue said: "The Niuean population experienced a dramatic decline in the 1970s and has remained relatively stagnant at around 1600 in the past 20 years. The working aged population has seen a consistent decrease over the last decades while the retired aged group has consistently increased, with about 20 percent of the population above retirement age. Labour shortage is therefore a very real problem for Niue and labour mobility provides the only viable solution to addressing this development constraint."

The Minister further highlighted that labour shortage exists throughout key economic sectors and there is great interest to expand the intra-pacific labour mobility programme to other sectors based on the learnings from this initial pilot in the health sector.

The PACER Plus Implementation Unit (PPIU) recognises the importance of intra-Pacific labour mobility to delivering mutual wins for PACER Plus Parties by creating employment for labour sending countries with surplus labour supply whilst alleviating labour shortages that constrain sustainable development in Pacific labour receiving countries like Niue. The PPIU extends its gratitude to the Niue National Labour Mobility Steering Committee and the Solomon Islands Labour Mobility Unit for the collaborative efforts to make this Arrangement the first of its kind in the Pacific. It is committed to working closely with the goverments of Niue and Solomon Islands to monitor the Pilot and to ensure that mutual benefits for both countries are sustained.

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