Four Solomon Island nurses will work in the Niue health sector for six months as part of a pilot Niue-Solomon Islands Labour Mobility program beginning August 2024.

In November 2023, the Niuean government endorsed the proposal for a pilot programme for the health sector and the PACER Plus Implementation Unit then worked with the governments of Niue and Solomon Islands to develop an Inter-Agency Understanding (IAU) to mutually benefit both countries.

Solomon Island Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade permanent secretary Colin Beck said his country’s economic growth was not keeping up with its fast-growing population, with more than 20,000 youths annually looking for jobs.

“The narrow economic base of the country is unable to generate sufficient employment for all,” he said.

“There is also a large number of nurses graduating out of Solomon Islands national institutions each year. The retirement age in Solomon Islands is 55 years, thus we have experienced retired nurses available for job opportunities in overseas market. T

“The Niue-Solomon Islands Labour Mobility Pilot puts a human face to the two nation’s relations and presents a new beginning in strengthening of people-centered relations that can grow and diversify to other sectors. Solomon Islands has a deep work ready pool we can draw on.”

For Niue, acute labour shortages were a critical development constraint across all sectors. Minister for Infrastructure and Finance Crossley Tatui said the Niuean population experienced a dramatic decline in the 1970s and has remained relatively stagnant at around 1600 in the past 20 years.

“The working aged population has seen a consistent decrease over the last decades while the retired aged group has consistently increased, with about 20 percent of the population above retirement age,” he said.

“Labour shortage is therefore a very real problem for Niue and labour mobility provides the only viable solution to addressing this development constraint.”

The Inter-Agency Understanding (IAU) which governs the Niue-Solomon Islands Labour Mobility Pilot was signed today in Tamakautoga, Niue by the governments of Niue and Solomon Islands.

The Pilot is the first managed intra-Pacific labour mobility programme for the Pacific and is facilitated through the Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations (PACER) Plus Labour Mobility Secretariat under the framework of the PACER Plus Arrangement on Labour Mobility (ALM).