Reserve Bank of Fiji Governor, Barry Whiteside, has indicated job advertisements increased by 12 per cent over the course of the past year.

“So that is very strong if you take that as a proxy for what is happening in job creation,” he said.

But, he stressed, the Reserve Bank can only make estimates in terms of how many jobs were created based on survey of job advertisements in the newspapers.

“Unfortunately we don’t have the exact numbers – we also use proxies – we look at FNPF new membership,” he said.

Mr Whiteside said another proxy they used was the Fiji Revenue and Customs Authority TIN numbers.

But, he said given TIN numbers are also needed by banks etc when opening a new bank account, so it may not necessarily be a new person coming into job.

“Those are just proxies – but all the proxies we look at, shows a very marketable increase,” Mr Whiteside said.

It is understood, a large number of employment have been created in the construction sector with our growing economy as well as wholesale and retail trade.

As it is, the central bank is expected to announce an upward revised economic growth for the past year as well as this year.

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