Post Courier have reported on the 26th of September 2023 that “PNG has the lowest participation of people in engaged in the Labour Mobility Scheme (LMS) in Australia and New Zealand to other smaller Pacific Island Countries” (Lower participation of PNG in the labour mobility scheme – Post Courier).

This news is a shock to us at The PNG Recruiter as with the ever-prevalent issue of unemployment in the country, we would have thought that PNG would have the biggest number of participants in the PALM scheme/LMS. We’ll do our best to get to the bottom of this but from the top of our heads, some factors we think are causing this that come to mind now would be the below:

1. High levels of Illiteracy in PNG amounts to slow time understanding requirements and completing relevant docs to take part in the schemes by participants, whom many of are from rural/remote areas with little or no education qualifications and school dropouts.

2. The long turnaround times it takes for NID’s, Passports and Visas to be completed to take part in these schemes.

3. Not enough awareness and marketing of the LMS/ PALM Schemes across the country to attract participants.

Theories 1 & 2 mentioned from us above can seriously demotivate a participant or future participants in the LMS / PALM Scheme. And we can attest to this from years of working in the recruitment industry.

Do comment below on what other reason’s you think is contributing to PNG’s low participation numbers in the LMS/ PALM Schemes.

Thanks to Post Courier for reporting this surprising news. #WokEmWok #ThePNGRecruiter #PALM #LaborMobilityScheme #PapuaNewGuinea