The overall unemployment rate has increased from 3.7 percent to 8.6 percent during the 1996 to 2007 period.

While releasing its second part of the 2007 Census of the Population and Housing report, the Fiji Islands Bureau of Statistics said the increase in the unemployment rate to 8.6 percent, although not by far as large as some believe, is very significant.

The bureau said the rise in the unemployment rate does not come as a surprise, considering that Fiji experienced two coups between 1996 and 2007.

It said these coups led to a downturn in the economy and job losses.

In addition, many cane farmers lost their land during this period, due to non-renewal of land leases.

Although the increase in overall urban unemployment has been slightly lower than the increase in overall rural unemployment, the urban unemployment rate has now reached a two digit figure standing at 10.5 percent.

According to the bureau report, the highest unemployment rate for all sub-groups of the population is now 16.7 percent for Fijian females in the urban sector.

The only subgroup of the population which has been able to keep its unemployment rate below 5 percent, standing at 4.6 percent, are Indian males.

According to Fiji's latest labour force report, there are 594,150 people aged 15 years and over.

Of this number, 326,988 people are economically active in the labour force.

267,162 people are not in the labour force, this number includes full-time home workers, full-time students, retired persons, the disabled and it was also revealed that 25,707 people are not in the labour force and are not looking for jobs.

Meanwhile, the Fijian and Indian labour force participation has narrowed down significantly.

In 1996, labour force participation was significantly higher for Fijians than for Indians.

This was due to a high level of Fijian participation in the subsistence sector, which has now decreased.

On the other hand, Indian labour force participation in the age group between 20 to 34 has increased and is now higher than that of Fijians.

In the 2007 census, 7,799 youths aged 10 to 14 years were classified as being in the labour force.

These youths are predominantly rural Fijian males, many of them class 8 school dropouts engaged in subsistence activities.

The bureau states all the post-coup "guestimates" of unemployment made after December 2006 by certain individuals and institutions were not based on hard evidence collected in a nationwide survey.

It said instead they were based on sentiments and speculation, some even suggesting that the unemployment rate stood as high as 30 to 40 percent, which is far from the 8.6 percent recorded in the 2007 census.