DTIS, Volume I - Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF)

The VPA-2 defines the population of working age as citizens of 14 years or above. There
were 183,970 such persons in 2004. Availability for participation in the labour market
was estimated at 54.3 per cent thus resulting in a labour force of 99,917 persons.
However, there are important definitional issues in measuring unemployment in the
Maldives. It is usual to define the unemployed as people who are willing to work,
available at short notice and actively looking for work. When this definition is applied to
the Maldives, it inevitably yields a very low unemployment rate of only 1 per cent
reported in MPND statistics. This is because people on remote islands cannot
realistically look for work in Male’ and on the tourist island resorts where most
opportunities are found, given the time and costs involved.
For this reason the VPA disregarded the part of the definition concerning ‘actively
looking for work’ and focused only on ‘people willing to work and available at short
notice’. On this basis, the VPA-2 reported an overall unemployment rate of 14 per cent
for 2004, with unemployment among women at 23 per cent and among men at 7 per cent.
The VPA-2 also reported inequality in unemployment between Male’ and the atolls.
Unemployment in Male’ was 9 per cent in 2004 and 17 per cent in the atolls. When
gender is taken into account, female unemployment is as high as 27 per cent as compared
to 8 per cent for males. Between the atolls unemployment is higher in the north where
Haa Alifu recorded 34 per cent as compared to Seenu atoll in the south with 22 per cent.
Over and beyond these unemployment estimates, VPA results also report 33 per cent
underemployment nation-wide, meaning that part of the Maldivian labour force that is
counted as employed, but this employment is not full-time employed due to factors such
as seasonality etc. Underemployment is higher in atolls with 35 per cent compared to 28
per cent in Male’.
These unemployment assessments are in line with poverty and income disparities that
were noted by the VPA. The unemployment assessments are also consistent with the fact
that the main income generating activities are concentrated in the central-southern part of
the country.
Employment data has also been examined for further insights on the trends they reveal in
regard to the two major sectors – fishery and tourism.
FISHERY SECTOR EMPLOYMENT
For the fishery sector, the VPA surveys of 1997 and 2004 indicate that there is a 40 per
cent decline in sectoral employment. Census data confirms this declining trend (see
Table 4.3). In 1990 sectoral employment was 11,364, or 21 per cent of the national labour
force of 55,949 (i.e. persons over 12 years old). In 2000 sectoral employment was 9,019
or 11 per cent of the national labour force of 86,256.
47