|
It
is difficult to exactly assess the number of jobs created in
the pearl production sector, first because the statistics
published by the Territory do not include the figures relating
specifically to pearl production. The statistics apply to all
those working in the combined socio-professional category of
"Agricultural workers", which includes farming,
fishing and pearl production.
Secondly, according to a statement made by a spokesman for the
Caisse de Prévoyance Sociale (CPS), non-salaried forms of
employment are very common in the pearl production sector: the
spokesman for the CPS, which publishes an annual economic
guide to the Territory, mentioned that in 1996, for example,
pearl production provided 1 000 persons with salaried
employment, which was four hundred more than in 1994, but that
this figure would be even four or five times higher if all the
workers not
receiving proper salaries had been included in the count.
If we look at the various socio-professional categories, we
can see that employment increased overall as follows:
|
Socio-professional
Categories
|
Rate
of variation
between 1983 and 1988
|
Rate
of variation
between 1988 and 1996
|
|
Agricultural
workers
|
- 14,8%
|
+ 36,6%
|
|
Total
active population
in employment
|
+
10,6%
|
+ 16,5%
|
Data provided by ITSTAT
The
total numbers recorded give an idea of the increase in the
mean numbers of active members of the population in employment between the
above dates, in terms of the means for all socio-professional
categories combined.
From
1983 to 1988, the category "Agricultural Workers"
decreased in size by almost 15% when many of these workers
turned to the secondary sector, especially the building
industry, which was expanding rapidly at that time, and to the
better paid tertiary administrative sector.
By
contrast, from 1988 to 1996 a 36,6% increase occurred in the
"Agricultural" employment rate, which was
20.1% more than the overall average increase recorded
among the active population as a whole. After being rather
unpopular, the status of "Agricultural worker" rose
to second rank, coming after White Collar workers and before
labourers.
This
sudden upsurge was due to the boom in the pearl sector which
began to occur in the 1990's. This sector henceforth attracted
70 to 80% of all those in the category labelled
"Agricultural workers", according to the Institut
Territorial de la Statistique (ITSTAT).
The
distribution of employment in the pearl industry among the
atolls.
The
following statistics, which were drawn up by the Service des
Ressources Marines (March 1999) and collected in the framework
of the research programme entitled "Programme de
Recherche sur le Nacre phase 2" by Gilles Blanchet at the
IRD.
The
above map shows the "direct" increases in the
employment figures for which the pearl production sector was
responsible. It also illustrates the dynamism of the Western
Tuamotu sector, focusing on atolls such as Ahe, Kauehi and
Arutua.
The
economic importance of the pearl workers engaged entirely in
this sector of activity was considerable on these
islands: on Ahe, for example, 141 of all the 188 active
members of the population in employment censused in 1996 were
engaged in pearl production activities.
Despite the occurrence of fluctuations, qualified pearl
workers such as pearl-divers, grafting technicians and oyster
farmers were able to earn a mean monthly income which was
considerably higher than the minimum legal salary. In 1996,
for example, the CPS recorded a difference of 48 000 Fr. CFP
between the minimum legal salary and the mean monthly salary
earned by the pearl industry workers.
There
was a considerable amount of heterogeneity, however, among the
pearl industry workers' salaries, depending on their level of
qualification and the state of health of the market. The
various pearl consortia have set fixed, strictly subsistence
rates of pay which do not yet fairly reflect the economic and
social progress which was expected to occur as the result of
the spectacular growth of the Polynesian pearl industry. | 
Atoll_site_