14,518 Residents Left Fiji in February

A total of 1266 Fijians left the country for employment opportunities overseas last month. This is 8.7 per cent of the 14,518 Fiji residents who departed Fiji during the month of February alone.

This was revealed in the provisional visitor arrivals and departure statistics for the month of February recently released by the Fiji Bureau of Statistics (FBoS) chief executive officer, Kemueli Naiqama.

The statistics revealed that of the 1266 who left for employment purposes overseas, 526 were for a period of three months to one year and 525 were for a period of one year to five years.

Reasons of traveling abroad 

The highest on February’s departure list were the 5958 Fijians who travelled abroad to visit friends and relatives. Second on the list were the 5143 Fijians on holiday short term travel and third were the 1266 Fijians who left Fiji for employment purposes.

The FBoS said of the 14,518 Fiji residents that left the country, 86.4 per cent or 12, 544 were for a short-term absence of under three months, 5.5 per cent or 799 went for over three months to a year and 8.1 per cent or 1175 were residents who went away for longer term absence of one year or more.

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The reasons for departure as reported by residents leaving for a short-term absence were as follows: 

• Visiting friends or relatives – 47.4 per cent
• Holiday – 41.0 per cent
• Business – 6.9 per cent
• Employment – 1.7 per cent
• Education Training – 1.6 per cent
• Other reasons – 1.4 per cent

FTUC 

In an earlier interview, Fiji Trades Union Congress national secretary Felix Anthony emphasised the need for urgent action to stop the massive brain drain of Fijian workers overseas.

"To retain employees and stop the massive migration of skilled Fijian workers overseas, employers need to start paying their employee’s right,” Mr Anthony said.

“They (employers) are partly responsible of why workers run away because of the way the workers are being treated by them, their working conditions and pay rate.

“Another thing I don’t understand is our employers in this country will not want to remunerate our workers as they do to foreign workers.

“We see that discrimination in every workplace. People coming from abroad to work here high are getting high paid salaries and they never do the same to our workers.”

He said there was a serious need for employers to rethink their strategy on how they compensate their employees.

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