Tackling Unemployment in Papua New Guinea

Tackling Une

The issue of unemployment has been nagging Papua New Guinea for many years now. After Independence in 1975, and after the formation of 10 successive governments, the issue rages on without any plausible remedy in sight.

The people blame the government for lack of employment opportunities in the country and the hardships faced by citizens. Politicians in both the opposition and the ruling coalition point fingers at each other for lack of employment and the ensuing issues of deteriorating living standards and breakdown in law and order.

Politicians, academics, and public servants have done some analysis on the issue of unemployment over the years to pinpoint where the problem lies so that remedial measures could be devised to address the issue. However, the analyses done may have focused on variables that could have little significance to the issue of unemployment, thus the issue remains unresolved.

In this short article, I have used an unorthodox method to analyze the issue of unemployment in Papua New Guinea. The data used and issues discussed are not based on information derived from academic researches, but based on my own opinions and observations as a former policy and scientific researcher in the public service. Although the data used and issues discussed may be personal and may have some biases and inaccuracies, I hope this article will shed light on some areas that may be worth looking at so that the country could address the issue of unemployment in Papua New Guinea.

Donor partners and NGOs have played their part in addressing unemployment and poverty in Papua New Guinea. They have used different modes of development to create opportunities where people can help themselves make a living outside of the formal employment sector. But these efforts have not impacted the lives of 9 – 10 million Papua New Guinean in any significant way due to lack of government support and many other reasons.

In the beginning of the year 2024, the issue of unemployment and inflation hit the limelight when citizens of Port Moresby took the law into their own hands and burned down shops and supermarkets in the city – Black Wednesday (January 10, 2024). They justified their actions by blaming the government of James Marape and John Rosso for failing to address escalating unemployment and inflation in the country.

However, the creation of employment for citizens is not the core of government business, and inflation is usually influenced by both domestic and international issues like the Covid-19 pandemic and war between countries (e.g., the war between Ukraine and Russia), which are beyond the control of the Government of PNG. Therefore, the government can only do so much in terms of creating jobs for citizens and address inflation.

The government has the responsibility to provide social services such as roads, bridges, airports, airstrips, wharves, jetties, hospitals, clinics, schools and many other services that will serve citizens and corporations. They must also create policies, legislations, strategies that would create conducive environments for foreign investments and local businesses to thrive and create more employment and revenue for the country.

In terms of social and economic services, the government has been trying its best in the last 49 years to deliver despite limited budgets. The delivery of socio-economic services has also been hampered by the rugged terrains and unforgiving tropical rainforests that cover 70 percent of the country, let alone remote villages and islands and atolls scattered throughout the vast landscape of this country. Systematic and systemic corruption has also played a role in hampering the delivery of basic goods and services to rural areas in the country.

The government can only provide more employment in the public sector if there is creation of more employment in the private sector. The government must then create corresponding employment in order to employ more public servants to administer legislations, processes and policies of the government to ensure citizens and corporations do things in accordance with the laws of the country and conducive to development.

Since independence in 1975 the government has allowed foreign investments in the country through agriculture, mining, oil and petroleum, forestry, fisheries and others that have created employment opportunities for citizens and foreigners. However, the number of employments that have been created since Independence may be less than 20 percent of the total population of the country (less than 1 million jobs). Majority of Papua New Guineans still live in rural areas (8 – 9 million people) and earn a living through subsistence gardening or small-scale agriculture activities such as coffee and cocoa farming.

It is estimated that some 40,000 students pass out of universities, colleges, senior high schools, junior high schools and primary schools every year, adding to the number of unemployed citizens. Therefore, if we project the number of unemployed Papua New Guineans from 20 years ago, the number would be between 1 – 2 million people by now.

Looking at the employment figures since Independence, the number of people exiting the school system every year in the last 20 years and the number of people living in rural areas compared to towns and cities, we can see that Papua New Guinea is very much an unemployed and rural based society.

Some 8 – 9 million people live in rural areas and make a living by doing subsistence gardening and small-scale farming, some 1 million people live in towns and cities, and less than half of the 1 million living in towns and cities are formally employed.

With the rough figures given above, we can see that we have focused on providing employment in towns and cities, especially in the manufacturing, commercial, mining and oil and petroleum sectors over the last 49 years. But we are not aware that Papua New Guinea is a rural-based society, and this is where we need to create more employment for our citizens. We need to create employment, whether formal or informal, in rural-based industries like agriculture, horticulture, forestry, fisheries, ecotourism and many others.

Some 85 percent of the country’s population is in the rural areas. Therefore, if we shift our focus to creating formal and informal employments in rural areas, we will surely address the issues of unemployment in this country. This will also create a conducive environment for those living in towns and cities without any formal employment to return to their home provinces and villages to tap into the employment opportunities created there.

One of the biggest obstacles to lack of employment in the country is ignorance. Many Papua New Guineans are used to the idea that the only way to earn a living in today’s world is to find employment in the formal sector. They cannot perceive or pursue other ways of making money other than formal employment.

The school system teaches people to make money or earn a living by being employees for the government or corporations, but it does not teach people to make money by being self-employed, by creating a business and employing others to work for you, and by investing one’s money and resources in other businesses to make more money. Few people learn of those other three ways of making money after leaving school, but the majority never figures it out or just does not care.

It is usually the less educated and unfortunate who seek ways to make a living by being self-employed. You will see them selling beetle nuts, peanuts, bottled water, ice-blocks, juices and candy at traffic lights and market places in Port Moresby. Although what they do is sometimes illegal and dangerous, they relentlessly do it because they need money to feed themselves and their families.

Other self-employed people include vendors who sell potatoes, sweet potatoes, plantains, bananas, vegetables and other garden produce in the city markets in Port Moresby. They buy their merchandise from rural farmers in Central Province and then sell them for a profit at the city markets. Not much knowledge or skill is needed to be a vendor, but one has to learn to negotiate with a rural farmer to buy his merchandise at a reasonable price so that one can sell to make a profit. One needs to learn a little bit of skill in arranging his merchandise to attract the eyes of customers and one must also use languages and greetings that can entice customers into buying one’s merchandise.

Small-Medium-Enterprise (SME) is another sector where self-employment can be created. This is where somebody creates a small business where one employs a few people to help out with activities of the business. Such a business usually involves a little investment in terms of finance and other resources needed to run the business and does not require much knowledge and skills to run. A good example would be a floriculture business set up under one’s house in one of the suburbs in Port Moresby.

In order to create more employment in the self-employed or SME sector, people need some basic knowledge on how to create employment for themselves or to employ a few people to help with activities of the small start-up. They need leverages, systems and other resources to facilitate whatever livelihood activities they are pursuing, and this is where the government can come in to lend a hand.

The government must now refocus its attention by developing agriculture, horticulture, forestry, fisheries, ecotourism and many other rural-based industries to create more employment for Papua New Guineans. This is where the potential for creation of more employment is much bigger than creating employment in towns and cities and in the mining and oil and petroleum sectors. Creation of employment in rural-based industries will also create support for businesses in towns and cities, create more commodities for the export market and earn more revenue for the country.

Development of rural-based industries in terms of agriculture, forestry, horticulture, fisheries, ecotourism and others must not continue to be based on traditional areas like oil palm, cocoa, coffee, logging, sawmilling, plywood milling, floriculture, tuna fishing, tracking and tour of war memorials. We have to diversify to rare and high value farming activities like agriculture hubs, fruit and nut tree cultivation, hydroponics, aeroponics, aquaponics, eaglewood and sandalwood cultivation, rattan (cane) cultivation, development of essential oils like Melaleuca (Tea Tree) and Massoia, coastal and inland fish farming, and the development of tourism packages that include a portfolio of different site-seeing activities, bird watching and craft markets. It is only through diversification that we may see the creation of numerous employment opportunities in both the formal and informal sectors, thus alleviating our unemployment.