Employment in PNG’s manufacturing sector has grown strongly since 2019 and has now reached record levels.
"This pleasing turnaround in manufacturing employment was discussed on Tuesday with PNG Manufacturing Council’s Chairman, Mr Murray Woo, and Vice-Chairman, Mr Ashlon Chue. I was honoured that my colleague, the Minister for Agriculture, Mr Aiye Tambua, was able to hear the views put forward on the importance of the manufacturing sector to PNG’s development, including linkages back to the agriculture sector and down-stream processing” stated the Treasurer, Ian Ling-Stuckey.
The level of employment in the PNG’s manufacturing sector has hit an all-time record according to the BPNG’s employment manufacturing employment index. Unfortunately, economic mismanagement meant jobs in manufacturing collapsed by an estimated 5,726 jobs between 2013 to 2018 under the former PNC Government.
"Once again, we hear criticisms from the Opposition, yet no acknowledgement of their policy failures” stated Ling-Stuckey.
There is a distinct, positive turnaround in employment since the start of the Marape Government. An estimated additional 7,157 manufacturing jobs have been created since 2019 through to the latest data to the June quarter 2022. Manufacturing employment has now reached a record level of an estimated 51,269 jobs. This is based on the record level of the BPNG index to 206.3, with each point of the index estimated by UPNG/ANU to account for 248.5 jobs. Better policies have been put in place.
The Manufacturing Council indicated that the pattern of change and figures accorded with their own experiences. The election had affected some areas later in the year, and the new year has started slowly. Within these overall figures, some firms had gone backwards, while others had moved forward rapidly. The meeting discussed options for improving these very positive overall figures even further.
The Manufacturing Council noted the positive consultations that were occurring with the Customs Chief Commissioner, David Towe, and his team. They turn up at meetings and even participate in Whatsapp groups answering questions. The meeting made clear that there were no issues with the change to the new, updated schedules to harmonise with other countries, although they considered the update should be available on the Customs website. They also indicated that there were a number of circumstances where it was not clear that the intent of tariff policy, such as exempting inputs to local manufacturing if no local production, was being fully applied. Especially in such circumstances, questions were also raised about the current law on the application of penalties.
“All at the meeting agreed that it was a constructive discussion. Customs and Treasury will meet shortly to consider a way forward to deal with some of the specific issues being raised. This may require some legislative amendments in the near future. There is also an argument for a wider review of tariff policy, including the implications of the Special Economic Zone policies on existing manufacturers. The Marape-Rosso Government is committed to growing the economy, raising living standards, lowering the cost-of-living and creating more jobs. While the news is very positive that good policies had lifted manufacturing jobs to reach record levels, constructive discussions and engagement can lift these levels even further” stated Ian Ling-Stuckey.