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Maldives Employment
In 1992 the fishing industry employed about 22 percent
of the
labor force, making it the largest single source of
employment in
Maldives. However, a high level of disguised unemployment
existed
on a seasonal basis as a result of climatic conditions.
Despite its importance as a source of government
revenues,
tourism provides little meaningful employment
opportunities to
Maldivians. Tourism accounts for only about 6 percent of
the
country's labor force. Because most Maldivians have no
education
beyond primary school, most lack the required knowledge of
foreign languages to cater to foreign tourists. As a
result, nonMaldivians filled most of the best jobs in the tourist
industry.
Indigenous employment on the resort islands was also
discouraged
by the government's efforts to limit contact between
Maldivians
and Westerners to prevent adverse influence on local
Islamic
mores. Also, the low season for tourists, the time for
rainy
monsoons from late April to late October, coincides with
the low
season for the fishing industry.
After fishing, the largest source of employment is in
the
industrial sector, including mining, manufacturing, power,
and
construction. Although this sector also accounted for
nearly 22
percent of the labor force in 1990, most employment was in
traditional small-scale cottage industries. Women are
mainly
employed in these activities, such as coir rope making
from
coconut husks, cadjan or thatch-weaving from dried
coconut
palm leaves, and mat weaving from indigenous reeds. The
ancient
task of cowrie-shell collecting for export is another
occupation
in which only women participate. In the early 1990s, a
small
number of modern industries were operating, mostly fish
canning
and garment making. The largest garment factories are Hong
Kongowned and occupy abandoned hangars and other maintenance
buildings at the former British air station on Gan. They
employ
about 1,500 local women who are bused in and about 500
young Sri
Lankan women who reside at the site working nightshift.
Other forms of employment in 1990 were minor.
Government
administration accounts for about 7 percent of workers;
transportation and communications, 5 percent; trade, 3
percent;
and mining of coral, 1 percent.
Data as of August 1994
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