Solomon Islands AI Job Risk 2026: Which of 363k Workers Are Most Exposed?

363,060 workers, ILO ILOSTAT 2013 data

Employment data comes from ILO ILOSTAT (CC BY 4.0), compiled from Solomon Islands National Statistics Office (SINSO) Population and Housing Census employment data, ILO compilation 2013. ISCO-08 major group classifications. The 2013 data is the most recent ILO-compiled occupational breakdown available for Solomon Islands. The SINSO has noted in methodology documents that census-based employment data for rural areas - which cover the vast majority of the islands - relies on self-reported activity classifications that may undercount part-time agricultural and fishing activities or overcount subsistence work as primary employment. The 363,060 figure covers employed persons across all major islands including Guadalcanal, Malaita, Western Province, Malaita, Isabel, and the smaller island groups.

Solomon Islands' labour market is shaped by the overwhelming dominance of subsistence and semi-subsistence agriculture across the rural island communities. The commercial economy - concentrated almost entirely in Honiara on Guadalcanal - is small relative to the national population. Timber export, the largest formal export earner for most of the post-independence period (1978 onward), has been managed through a combination of foreign logging concessions and domestic forestry operations, employing a portion of the craft and trades workers in the dataset. Commercial fishing - tuna processing through Solomon Taiyo (now Soltuna) and artisanal fishing across island communities - accounts for much of the agricultural and fishery group alongside subsistence crop farming.

The 2013 data predates several significant developments: the Honiara riots of November 2021 (which destroyed parts of Chinatown and disrupted formal commerce), the 2022 security agreement between Solomon Islands and China, the April 2024 general elections, and the shift in diplomatic relationships that followed. These events have affected the formal economy in Honiara but are unlikely to have dramatically altered the fundamental structure of a workforce still predominantly in subsistence activities across the islands.

The most AI-exposed jobs in Solomon Islands

Clerical support workers score 8.5/10 on AI exposure in Solomon Islands, but their 1.23% share of the workforce - just 4,470 workers - means they are not the primary AI risk story for this economy. This is structurally different from the pattern seen in higher-income Pacific economies such as Australia or New Zealand, where clerical workers represent 12-14% of employment and face aggregate displacement risk at scale. In Solomon Islands, the formal administrative sector is simply too small for the clerical AI risk to be economically significant at a national level.

Professionals at 6.5/10 (32,470 workers, 8.95%) are the main AI exposure group and the one worth monitoring. Teachers are the largest sub-category: the national education system covers primary schools across all major islands, with secondary and tertiary education concentrated in Honiara through institutions including the Solomon Islands National University (SINU, formerly SICHE). Teachers face the same AI augmentation pressure that is visible in higher-income countries - AI tutoring tools, automated lesson planning, and language processing for multilingual classrooms (Solomon Islands has over 70 distinct languages across the island groups, with Pijin as a common lingua franca). Nurses and doctors at the National Referral Hospital and provincial hospitals face diagnostic support tools and administrative AI that are beginning to reach Pacific Island health systems through Australian and New Zealand development partnerships.

Service and sales workers score 3.5/10 (28,390 workers, 7.82%) - a mid-range exposure reflecting the hospitality, retail, and tourism-adjacent services concentrated in Honiara and around the dive tourism sites in the Western Province (Marovo Lagoon, Gizo). Managers at 5.5/10 (22,480 workers, 6.19%) include both formal business managers and community and cooperative organisation leadership roles that are classified under ISCO-08 major group 1. Technicians and associate professionals at 5.5/10 (14,240 workers, 3.92%) include laboratory technicians at provincial hospitals, ICT technicians supporting the government network, and engineering associates in the infrastructure sector.

The safest jobs in Solomon Islands

Elementary occupations score 2.0/10 on AI exposure - the lowest possible score in the ISCO-08 framework - covering 11,330 workers at 3.12% of employment. This group includes cleaners, domestic workers, manual labourers in construction and agriculture, and basic service workers. The physical and non-routine character of elementary work - combined with the infrastructure and connectivity constraints across the Solomon Islands archipelago - means that current AI has no realistic path to disrupting these roles on any near-term horizon. The islands span over 900 kilometres across the southwest Pacific, and basic logistics, power supply, and internet connectivity remain limited outside Honiara and a few provincial centres.

Craft and related trades workers score 2.5/10 (25,010 workers, 6.89%). This group includes construction workers building the infrastructure expanded through Chinese-funded projects since the diplomatic switch in 2019, mechanics maintaining the vehicle fleet on Guadalcanal and Malaita, carpenters producing the traditional and functional woodwork that is both a domestic necessity and an export craft product, and food processing workers in the fish canning and agricultural processing sector. Physical skill, material judgement, and location-specific knowledge are the defining characteristics of this group - none of which AI can replicate at the price points relevant to Solomon Islands employers.

The dominant group - skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers at 3.0/10 (173,960 workers, 47.91%) - represents the backbone of the Solomon Islands workforce and the primary reason the overall AI exposure score is in the green range. Subsistence farming across the islands grows taro, sweet potato, cassava, and tropical fruits for household consumption. The commercial fishing sector - including the Soltuna tuna processing plant - employs fishers and plant workers whose roles involve physical operation of vessels and processing equipment in ocean conditions. Logging and forestry workers in the Western Province and Choiseul manage timber operations that, while declining from peak export volumes, remain a significant employer. None of these activities are susceptible to the document processing, data entry, or language generation AI tools that create displacement pressure in office environments.

What this means for Solomon Islands workers

Solomon Islands' 3.59/10 weighted average AI exposure is in the green range and reflects a workforce structure that is largely insulated from near-term AI displacement. The 47.91% agricultural and fishery share - the single most important number in this dataset - means that for the majority of Solomon Islands workers, AI is not the relevant risk. Weather events, fish stock depletion, commodity price volatility for timber and tuna, and access to land tenure security are far more pressing concerns than AI automation for the 173,960 workers in the agricultural group. The Papua New Guinea comparison is instructive: neighbouring PNG shows a similar pattern of agricultural dominance, and the AI displacement risk profile is comparable.

For the 8.95% of workers who are professionals - 32,470 people concentrated in Honiara and provincial centres - the AI risk is real but likely to arrive gradually and through technology transfer from Australian and New Zealand development partnerships rather than through domestic AI adoption. Teachers face the earliest exposure as AI tutoring tools developed for Pacific contexts begin reaching school systems. Health professionals face diagnostic and administrative AI tools that are already being piloted in Pacific Island health systems through Australian government aid programmes (DFAT). For workers in these categories, the risk is on the administrative and preparation side of their roles in the near term, with deeper augmentation of core professional tasks taking longer to reach Solomon Islands institutions given connectivity and device infrastructure constraints.

For the 1.23% of workers in clerical roles - just 4,470 people - the AI exposure score of 8.5/10 is severe, but the group is small enough that the aggregate economic impact is limited. Workers in government ministries and the banking sector who are in early-career clerical positions should be aware that document processing automation and AI-assisted administrative tools are already standard in the Australian and New Zealand government systems that serve as models for Solomon Islands institutional development. Developing digital literacy and moving toward roles with more analytical or interpersonal components - case management, programme coordination, community liaison - provides more durable career protection than staying in pure clerical functions. The Pacific PACER Plus trade agreement and increased regional economic integration are likely to bring more technology transfer and digital tools into Solomon Islands government and business environments over the next decade, increasing the pressure on clerical roles over time even if the pace is slower than in higher-income Pacific economies. Compare with Fiji, a more economically diversified Pacific economy, for context on how formal sector growth changes the AI risk profile.