Despite its
importance as a source of government revenues, tourism provides little
meaningful employment opportunities to Maldivians. Tourism accounts for only
about 6 percent of the country's labor force. Because most Maldivians have no
education beyond primary school, most lack the required knowledge of foreign
languages to cater to foreign tourists. As a result, non-Maldivians filled most
of the best jobs in the tourist industry. Indigenous employment on the resort
islands was also discouraged by the government's efforts to limit contact
between Maldivians and Westerners to prevent adverse influence on local Islamic
mores. Also, the low season for tourists, the time for rainy monsoons from late
April to late October, coincides with the low season for the fishing industry.
After fishing, the
largest source of employment is in the industrial sector, including mining,
manufacturing, power, and construction. Although this sector also accounted for
nearly 22 percent of the labor force in 1990, most employment was in traditional
small-scale cottage industries. Women are mainly employed in these activities,
such as coir rope making from coconut husks, cad
Jan or thatch-weaving from
dried coconut palm leaves, and mat weaving from indigenous reeds. The ancient
task of cowrie-shell collecting for export is another occupation in which only
women participate. In the early 1990s, a small number of modern industries were
operating, mostly fish canning and garment making. The largest garment
factories are Hong Kongowned and occupy abandoned hangars and other maintenance
buildings at the former British air station on Gan. They employ about 1,500
local women who are bused in and about 500 young Sri Lankan women who reside at
the site working night shift.
Other forms of
employment in 1990 were minor. Government administration accounts for about 7
percent of workers; transportation and communications, 5 percent; trade, 3
percent; and mining of coral, 1 percent.
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