With the serious skills gap crisis in the country, the Fiji Commerce and Employers Federation and the Fiji Higher Education Commission are calling for the 1 percent FNU levy paid to the government by the employers to be used for the specific upskilling training rather than going into the National Budget pool for other purposes.
While speaking on fijivillage Straight Talk With Vijay Narayan, the CEO of Fiji Commerce and Employers Federation, Edward Bernard says the employers pay 1 percent of the total wages and salaries bill towards the FNU Levy, and from 2019 to 2024, about 4,800 employers paid the levy amounting to about $25 million a year.
Bernard says in 2019, the decision was made by the government to use it for other purposes, and unfortunately, 50 percent of that levy collected goes to the Government's Public/Private Medical Scheme, 40 percent to workplace accidents, and only 10 percent of the levy is set aside for upskilling training which is not sufficient.
He confirms that they have asked that the employers be given 100 percent access to these funds for upskilling training during the recent budget consultations.
Bernard says they were told that an inquiry will be conducted but nothing has changed.
Director of Fiji Higher Education Commission, Doctor Eci Naisele says they have been speaking to a number of ministers, and with most of the levy taken away, there is a huge upskilling gap.
He says he has also spoken to the Permanent Secretary for Employment regarding this.
Bernard says they have requested the same in the budget submission for the 2026/2027 National Budget, and FCEF will now write to the Prime Minister on how they can be assisted as he is also responsible for the FNU.
While the national skills gap report identifies about 95 different jobs that employers are finding difficult to fill with locals, the employers have indicated their preference to invest in local workers – upskill and re-skill current employees, re-engage retired workers and hiring locals – indicating that hiring foreign workers is not their first preference.
Bernard says recruiting foreign workers is not the first preference of employers.
He says this is because recruiting foreign workers is not relatively cheap – recruitment cost, airfares and bond alone can amount to an average cost of $3,000 per foreign worker.
Bernard adds that Cabinet recently made a decision to access a specific amount of the 1 percent FNU levy for Government training.
He asks what about the private sector.
The 2026/2027 National Budget will be delivered on June 26th by Minister for Finance, Esrom Immanuel. Stay with us for updates.
