Port Moresby, 23rd May 2024
U.S. Ambassador to Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu, Ann Marie Yastishock, met with the Minister for Labour and Employment, Hon. Kessy Sawang, MP, today to discuss various labour issues in Papua New Guinea. Their discussions covered a range of topics, including labour and employment governance institutional capacity, minimum wage, skills uplift and formalizing the informal, human trafficking, women’s economic empowerment, gender equality, and the impact of youth population growth on employment.
Ambassador Yastishock emphasized the importance of these discussions for fostering comfort and stability in the country. She expressed interest in understanding how the U.S. can partner with Papua New Guinea to address labour issues, especially in light of the government’s ambitious goal of creating one million jobs by 2027. “What support does the government need to achieve this target?” she inquired.
Ambassador Yastishock also raised the concern that Papua New Guinea is in Tier 3 in terms of human trafficking. This is already a red flag for foreign direct investment, especially from US companies.
Minister Sawang elaborated on the job creation target, which is part of Papua New Guinea’s Medium Term Development Plan 4 (MTDP 4) and aligns with the Vision 2050 and PNG Strategic Development Plan, aiming for two million jobs from 2010 to 2030.
She acknowledged the challenges posed by the country’s population growth, which increased from 3.1% in 2011 to 4.9% in 2022, adding approximately four million people over the last decade, with 60% being youth. When population growth outpaces economic growth, there are more people in the labour force who are seeking employment.
The Minister highlighted her ministerial key focus areas, including modernizing outdated labour laws, many of which date back to colonial and pre-independence times. She emphasized the need to integrate National Conventions on International Labour Conventions (ILO) into the country’s legislation and focus on labour legislation reforms.
We are reviving the National Apprenticeship and Trade Testing to ensure that trade skills of our people are tested and certified. Apart from those going through the formal system, we also have a large informal sector. We need to get this large informal sector having at least some certified skills so they can move into the formal sector.
Our national trades standards haven’t been reviewed for the last 12 years. We are reviving that now so we can get as many people that come through the formal system as well as those in the informal sector through uplifting their skills. By enhancing skills, both in the formal and informal sectors, the government aims to address the identified skills gap and improve employment opportunities.
Minister Sawang also said that PNG in 2023 ratified the International Labour Convention on Violence and Harassment at Workplace and she’s like to see that adopted into our laws, policies and implemented.
Lack of data is also a big challenge for Papua New Guinea. Minister Sawang thanked the Marape-Rosso Government for allocating funding in the 2024 budget to conduct PNG’s first ever labour force survey.
