Editing Economy of Fiji (section)

=== Emigration ===

Since 1987, when the country was destabilized by [[1987 Fijian coups d'état|two military coups]], Fiji has suffered a very high rate of [[emigration]], particularly of skilled and professional personnel. More than 70,000 people left the country in the aftermath of the coups, majority of whom were [[Indians in Fiji|Indo-Fijians]]. With the continuing expiration of [[land lease]]s and ongoing instability in the aftermath of another [[2000 Fijian coup d'état|coup]] in 2000, a further outflow of skilled workers has taken place.

A report in 2004 of the [[Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development]], published on 29 June 2005, found that 61% of Fiji's skilled workers have either emigrated or gone abroad as guestworkers. Fiji's loss of skilled workers was the world's fourth highest, behind [[Guyana]], [[Jamaica]], [[Haiti]], and [[Trinidad and Tobago]]. Fiji's Bureau of Statistics recorded 3595 workers as having left the country between January and August 2004. Of these, 414 held professional or technical jobs, 263 were in administrative or managerial positions, and were clerks, supervisors, or related workers, and 118 were sales workers. 

Fiji's economy is increasingly reliant on remittances from citizens working overseas. Personal remittances now run to more than F$200 million a year, earning more than traditional sectors like sugar and garment manufacturing. Recruitment of Fijians by foreign [[private military companies]] is a growing source of revenue. By mid-2005, there were over 1,000 Fijians working in [[Iraq]] and [[Kuwait]] as soldiers, security guards, drivers and labourers. In addition in 2006 there were more than 2,000 Fijian soldiers in the [[British Army]], and in 2004 the British defence ministry even sent recruiting teams to Fiji to do initial fitness and aptitude tests, cutting the costs of selection for poor Fijian villagers who could not afford to fly to London to sign up.<ref>[http://rmit.nautilus.org/forum-reports/0611a-maclellan.html "Fiji, the war in Iraq, and the privatisation of Pacific island security" by Nic Maclellan] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110826065349/http://rmit.nautilus.org/forum-reports/0611a-maclellan.html |date=2011-08-26 }}</ref>