Samoa considers overseas workers as Labour Mobility creates labour crisis

Staff Reporters/

Apia, SAMOA – 20 June 2026 – Samoa looks to revisit history when Melanesian and Chinese indentured labourers were brought in by German colonial administrators in the late 19th and early 20th century to work its successful plantations network in Samoa.

Faasaleleaga 2 MP, Vaaelua Senetenari told parliament that district and village development are facing a labour crisis as its abled workers have been recruited to work overseas under the labour mobility programs in New Zealand and Australia, leaving people who are hard and expensive to attract to work the plantations.

“It’s really hard now to obtain good workers at what used to be, and as the minimum wages is increased, you look at getting a farm hand as the same as a new schoolteacher,” he told parliament.

He said as someone who was born and brought up in the village, it is much harder now to get good workers to develop the farms, and he cautions the lack of manpower at the village level will impact the District Development Project.

Speaking on the Budget Estimates 2026/2027 now debated in Parliament, he said the $2m to be allocated annually per district for 5 years for district development, is a lot of money and must be utilized for maximum benefit and return.

But the problem now is the lack of manpower due to outward labour migration.

Then he suggests that maybe it is time to consider looking overseas to recruit especially Chinese workers who are good at agriculture and farming to be employed and attached to the District Development Councils.

Prime Minister Laaulialemalietoa Leuatea Polataivao Schmidt suggests to the MP that he can start the process of employing Chinese workers with his constituency and he can explore applying through the Ministry of Commerce.

The PM said, revisiting history speaks of why Samoa has strong Chinese and Melanesian connections due to the early migrant workers who were brought in for the same purpose in the late 1800 and early 1990s.

The indentured labourers were brought in by the German administrators at the time to work on the German plantations on what later became the Western Samoa Trust Estates Corporation when Samoa became an independent nation.

Laauli said the lack of clearcut policy guidelines for the RSE and Labour Mobility programs resulted in the rapid outward migration of not only the unskilled, but even teachers, police officers, nurses those working in the hospitality industry.

He said this is why the RSE selection process is now based at the District Development Offices so the districts can determine a sustainable selection process to address the labour needs of the district.

He said while Samoan workers are migrating to pick and prune apple trees overseas, it is the same as planting and nurturing a cocoa plantation in Samoa that will keep and sustain him and his family in the long-term.