By Loretta B Manele

The search for better economic opportunities topped the list as motivation for people travelling out of the country to work overseas.

Emmanuel Pitakaka, the national project officer for International Organization for Immigration (IOM), UN Migration spoke about this at the Heritage Park Hotel yesterday.

Delivering a presentation from IOM’s “Returned Migrant Workers in Solomon Islands” January 2025 report, he said looking at motivations for people migrating overseas for work, wanting economic opportunities topped the list with 64 percent.

Pitakaka mentioned that the search for economic opportunities is a bit different from those who are looking for employment because they may have had employment in-country, but they wanted to seek better opportunities abroad.

He said one of the workers reported that the main motivation for joining Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme was to buy hardware materials to build houses at home.

This worker stated that after the first season, he was only able to buy timber.

“I continued to purchase other materials after the second season. By the end of three seasons, I had built two houses, which are now occupied by tenants. Looking back, I can say that I have accomplished my goal”.

While there are other reasons for why workers are migrating to work abroad, being able to have that economic opportunity to invest in things that prove beneficial is the top motivational reason for wanting to migrate and work overseas.

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