Pacific Islands at home and away: expanding job opportunities for Pacific Islanders through labor mobility

The island economies in the Pacific are small nation states located at a considerable distance from large economies and each other in the vast Pacific Ocean. Their land mass, population size, ethnicity, and natural endowments vary considerably. Most Pacific member countries (PMCS) in this region receive very high amounts of aid per capita but economic growth has proved elusive. With persistently high population growth and the youth population reaching 40 per cent, finding productive employment is becoming more challenging. Greater labour mobility would expand the employment options available to Pacific islanders, but it is currently limited and skewed in favour of skilled workers.

This report is motivated by the need for jobs for the Pacific islanders who cannot source them domestically. Even as the business environment improves, employment creation will be limited by the challenges of demography, size, and geography. This report's main purpose is to examine the economic arguments - analytically and empirically - in favour of greater labour mobility, by addressing three fundamental questions: (1) What is the extent of demographic pressures facing the Pacific? (2) What has been the development impact of remittances on migrant-sending households and communities? and (3) Is it possible to design migration programs that balance the benefits of migration with the concerns of sending and receiving countries?

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