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More than half of Fijians aged 15 and over are not working or actively looking for jobs.
This is part of the key finding from the Fiji Bureau of Statistics 2023–24 Employment and Unemployment Survey.
It showed only 51.2 percent of the working-age population are in the labour force.
Of the 614,832 people aged 15 and above, just 314,898 were either employed or seeking work.
The gender gap is sharp as it showed that 65.7 percent of men were active in the workforce compared to just 36.2 percent of women.
The survey puts the unemployment rate at 5.7 percent.
Youth joblessness remains high. Using the UN definition for youth aged 15–24, the unemployment rate is 18.3 percent.
The NEET rate, those not in employment, education or training stands at 23.7 percent.
The highest labour force participation was among Fijians aged 40–44.
But the report warns that those who remain out of work or study for too long especially young people are at risk of long-term unemployment and missing out on essential job skills.
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