Unemployment in Nauru

The 2021 Census recorded a labour force participation rate of 67.0%, an employment-to-population ratio of 63.6% and unemployment of 5.0% among people aged 15 and over. The rate was 4.9% for men and 5.2% for women. Youth unemployment was higher at 12.0%, including 10.6% for young men and 14.4% for young women. A 2026 Labour Force Survey is listed, but its results were not published in the reviewed sources. The Nauru Bureau of Statistics, also called the Naoero Bureau of Statistics, measures employment and unemployment. The Department of Finance and its Social Welfare Division administer program-specific social assistance and contribute to the National Social Protection Strategy 2022–2032. The Department of Human Resources and Labour handles public-service recruitment. No national jobseeker register or central private job-placement service was documented. A person without work cannot currently be shown to have a general Nauruan unemployment payment, waiting-period rule, maximum payment duration or unemployment-specific application fee. Aged and disability pensions may apply when their separate eligibility conditions are met, including residence in Nauru and no other regular income. An unemployed mother may receive a one-time birth claim of AUD 600 per child, but this is not unemployment benefit. The Nauru Superannuation Scheme provides retirement savings and is not unemployment protection. Family, friends and community networks remain practical sources of support. Public-service vacancies are advertised through the relevant recruitment process. Applications can be submitted by form, email or physical delivery to the Human Resources Division in Yaren. A local recruitment process takes about four weeks, and advertisements are generally open for at least two weeks; expatriate recruitment takes about six to eight weeks. The documented public-service sequence is permission from Human Resources, a job description, budget confirmation, an interview, approval by the Chief Secretary, and then starting, taking the oath, induction and payroll processing. Public-service recruitment is merit-based. Nauru has no documented unemployment-specific reporting, job-search, cooperation or sanction duties. The Parliamentary Services Regulations 2021 contain redundancy rules for a specific public-service context: four weeks' notice or pay in lieu for redundancy without cause, and twelve weeks' remuneration for permanent redundancy. Misconduct can remove notice, and accrued annual or long-service leave remains payable in that context. These rules should not be treated as general rules for every worker in Nauru. The National Social Protection Strategy plans labour-market training for 2026–2027, a tripartite group for the third and fourth quarters of 2026, and training modules, trainers, facilities and certificates for the first and second quarters of 2027. A women's livelihood pilot is planned for 2027, but implementation was not independently confirmed. These plans do not establish a current unemployment payment or service.