Government to review RSE scheme and impact on local labour needs

APIA, SAMOA – 01 FEBRUARY 2022: The impact of the Recognized Employment Scheme on the local labour force is one of the reasons Government will review the scheme.

The Minister in charge of the scheme, Leatinu’u Wayne So’oialo told parliament this morning that it recently revealed that 20 teachers are among those now employed under the scheme in Australia.  While the scheme was intended for the unemployed with certain skills, the impact on the shortage of teachers locally, is a concern.

Leatinu’u said while the scheme is useful and important to the workers families and the overall economy, it has emerged that most villages in Samoa are now without the untitled men – Aumaga to serve the villages.

The former Minister of the Scheme, Lautafi Selafi Purcell also revealed that Principal Officers of Government Ministries were also found to have been employed under the scheme as they could not be detected during the screening process.

Leatinu’u said there have also been social problems which have come with the 3,000 plus Samoans currently employed across Australia.

He said during the orientations for these workers before they departed Samoa, they were in their best behaviour but problems soon arose when they settled in Australia.

For married partners, a consent form is signed. But when problems arose, the wife in Samoa comes to the office asking that the husband in Australia be returned home. But when the husband is about to board the plane to come back home, the wife comes back and pleads with the Office that their differences have been sorted and for the husband to remain in Australia.

Registration of RSE workers on the street outside the Ministry of Labour in Apia.

To address the growing issues with these workers, the Minister said that Australia has agreed to fund a Liaison Officer to deal with the problems. But he said that the workers are far and scattered around Australia that will need more than one Liaison officer.

He also expressed the concern that with the Governments $1million talā scheme for village based development for the 51 constituencies, one of the challenges is the shortage of human labour at the village level, as the most productive have already been recruited to work overseas.

At the moment 3,000 Samoan workers are employed in Australia and 2,000 are employed under the scheme in New Zealand.

They provide a consistent flow of remittances to their families throughout their employment.

While some have returned and used their skills learned overseas to develop money earning projects such as vegetable gardens, many have invested in upgrading their families and has seen seen the growth of taxi services out in the villages.