Labour Mobility and Women’s Private Sector Employment: The Case of Vanuatu

AUTHOR(S)
Kirstie Petrou
Development

Following the COVID-19 pandemic, participation in Pacific labour mobility schemes expanded rapidly. By late 2023, roughly 40,000 Pacific Islanders were employed in Australia through the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme, and a further 19,000 visas were available through New Zealand’s counterpart Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme (Howes, 2024). Pacific labour mobility schemes have the potential to bring may benefits to participating countries through income and skills gains (Doan, Dornan, & Edwards, 2023; World Bank, 2017). However, as participation rates have increased significantly in recent years, sending country governments have repeatedly raised concerns about the impacts of labour mobility on home country labour markets which often have limited pools of skilled labour in certain industries or sectors (Meleisea, 2023). At the same time, and reflecting the male dominated nature of labour mobility participation, there have been some reports of increased employment, leadership and entrepreneurship opportunities for women in the private sector including businesses implementing strategies to adapt to a changing labour market with fewer men. The evidence for this is largely anecdotal with limited documentation and analysis on the impact and opportunities for women in the private sector over the short and long term.

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Research Type(s)
Report – Peer reviewed
June 12, 2025
Published in
2025
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