Since the establishment of Australia’s Seasonal Worker Programme (SWP) in 2012, the number of workers from Vanuatu has increased significantly from 119 to 1533. It has been established that labour mobility improves livelihoods (Bailey 2014; Bedford 2013; Gibson and McKenzie 2014). This is evident throughout out villages and towns in Vanuatu, and is the reason thousands of ni-Vanuatu apply for the SWP every year. Using evidence-based research of ni-Vanuatu workers in the SWP, this paper argues that this strategic policy of encouraging development for Pacific island nations is effective, and, most significantly, that participating in labour migration provides workers with new avenues of social mobility.

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