Search Website :

Distribution of Unemployment by Age, Gender and Level of Education 1996

Produced By: Fiji Islands Bureau of Statistics
Category: Labour Demand
Date: 11/10/2006

Distribution of Unemployment by Age and Sex, 1996

As in other countries, open unemployment in Fiji is concentrated among the youth, with rates highest in the age group 15-19 and 20-24. Rates of unemployment are considerably higher for females than males in each age group (See table below).

Age Group M A L E S F E M A L E S
Economically Active Unemployed Pct Economically Active Unemployed Pct
15-19 16,503 2,448 14.8 7935 1854 23.4
20-24 27,668 2,532 9.2 14745 1934 13.1
25-29 28,629 1,381 4.8 13833 1000 7.2
30-34 28,987 925 3.2 13824 765 5.5
35 and over 98,265 2,316 2.4 47381 2110 4.5
Total 200,052 9,602 4.8 97,718 7,663 7.8

(Source: As compiled from 1996 Census Tables, Table 33)

Unemployment by Sex and Level of Education Completed for the Youths Aged 15-24, 1996

In terms of level of education completed, unemployment affects mainly those youth with relatively higher level of education, as table below illustrates.

Level of Education M A L E S F E M A L E S
Economically Active Unemployed Pct Economically Active Unemployed Pct.
Primary 11 455 401 3.5 3512 185 5.3
Secondary 30427 4168 13.7 17429 3138 18.0
Post-Secondary 2169 402 18.5 1632 460 28.2
Unrecognised 120 9 7.5 107 5 4.7
Total 44171 4980 11.3 22680 3788 16.7

(Source: As compiled from 1996 Population census results, Tables OCC-5F and OCC 5M)

No Source Table with FIBOS

For both male and female youths aged 15-24, the rates of unemployment rise as level of education increases, with the higher rates for those with post-secondary studies. Thus the problem of unemployment is not only one of youth unemployment, but of educated youth unemployment.
However, the level of unemployment is a poor indicator of the incidence of worklessness in a country such as Fiji, limited as it is to those persons able to live in complete economic idleness thanks to the support received from their families and kin. The more relevant concept is underemployment, in terms of absence of continuous employment over the year (or days during the week or hours during the day) or very low productivity and incomes among those working full-time over the year. The 1996 Census indicated that during the reference week of the census, 15.1% of the persons employed in the money economy were part-time workers (Table 45.1), but a reference period of a year must be utilised to ascertain the true level of such 'visible underemployment'. Each of these types of underemployment is characteristic of employment in the informal sector, including in agriculture. Unfortunately no surveys have been conducted in Fiji that could capture the dimensions of the problem of inadequate-income-earning opportunities represented by these two types of underemployment, but it is known that in the absence of paid employment possibilities, considerable numbers of new job-seekers are obliged to create their own jobs if their families and kin groups cannot afford for them to become unemployed, except for very short periods of time.