Apenisa Waqairadovu 
Pacific workers returning home from overseas employment schemes are being encouraged to use the skills and experience gained abroad to help grow local economies.
The World Bank says Pacific nations can benefit more from labour mobility schemes by supporting innovation, digital growth, and small businesses.
World Bank Senior Private Sector Specialist Kimberly Chandra says Pacific workers returning from overseas jobs can help drive economic growth back home.
“Because living in other countries, being able to access new technologies, new machinery, new equipment, that’s something that they can bring back to their home countries. This exposure to new technologies, new systems, access to finance, access to innovation, and education is also something that you can bring back here.”
Chandra says Pacific countries must also create the right environment for businesses to grow.
“We also see a lot of digitalization activities that are happening. This is also an area of deep growth and development. MSMEs are really the engine of growth for any economy.”
World Bank Lead Economist Ralph van Doorn says Pacific countries must also focus on turning returning workers into long-term contributors to the economy.
“But in the Pacific specifically, we also have people who go on migration, seasonal migration, they come back. How can you harness the skills and experience that they have acquired there? How can you reintegrate them in the labor market and actually access new markets?”
The World Bank says stronger infrastructure, digital systems, and investment support will be key to creating more jobs and opportunities across the Pacific.
