Fijians working in New Zealand under the Recognized Seasonal Employers Scheme have been praised for their hard job.

This was highlighted by Minister for Employment Jone Usamate following a successful meeting conducted with employers from New Zealand and government representatives last week.

Usamate says opportunities will not only depend on the requirements provided by New Zealand however they will also focus on the reputation of workers.

“In terms of our workers good things that we have seen from this trip is that the reputation of our workers increased, it’s enhance there are still few areas where we had few issues but I think that is also reflects the changes that we’ve had in our system here. We’ve tighten up our screening of people, we have maintained the physical fitness assessment but now we have involved the community also in screening those that were propose to go and work in New Zealand.”

The New Zealand government has decided to increase the required number of workers from the Pacific to 11,100 this year – an increase of 500 more workers from last year.

Out of this, Fiji has 280 workers currently working in New Zealand.