Census reveals 56% of workers not Caymanian
(CNS): On Thursday evening the Economics and Statistics Office (ESO) published the preliminary report of the 2021 Census, which revealed an estimated population of 69,656 living across 29,502 households. Just under 53% of those living here are Caymanian, and there has been an increase of around 6,300 people since 2010. The unemployment rate among local people is over 8.5%, but Caymanians account for less than 44% of a workforce of 44,635. This represents a decrease of almost 3% in the balance of local and foreign people with jobs since 2010, when 47% of employed workers were Caymanian.
The census reached 97% of households, despite extending the deadline for the count from October to January. Officials estimate as many as 2,300 people have not been counted.
According to a release from the ESO, 549 households refused to take part, even though it is a legal requirement and discussions are underway about prosecutions. However, census workers were unable to reach anyone at another 409 households, where no one was interviewed.
Finance Minister Chris Saunders, whose portfolio includes the ESO, recently noted that if these missing households had been counted, the total population would be well over 70,000, and in light of the pending return of thousands of tourism workers, the government will be making policy based around an estimated population of 75,000 people.
The preliminary statistics show that 306 people counted were living in institutions, including prisons, care homes and retirement homes. The rest were residing in households.
The non-institutional population has grown by 26% since the 2010 Census, which counted an estimated population of 55,036. The census found that Caymanians make up 52.9% of the population, while non-Caymanians are 45.9%. The remaining 1.2% of those surveyed did not indicate their nationality.
Almost 50% of the population lives in George Town, while 21.5% are in West Bay. Bodden Town, where 20% of the population now resides, reflected the highest growth of over 35% since the last census. The only district not growing is the Sister Islands, which is home to just over 3% of the population, while only 2.7% of the population lives in North Side and 2.5% in East End.
A total of 1,795 Caymanians were counted as unemployed, though many more are currently under-employed, as demonstrated by the number of people receiving the tourism stipend. In addition, 873 non-Caymanian unemployed workers were counted.
The census revealed that by a slight fraction, there are now more men in the population (50.2%) than women, a reverse of the 2010 statistics.
Other key figures showed that there are 3,865 vacant dwellings and the number of temporary second homes and temporary short-term rentals is 2,288. The number of residential units under construction is 2,192. The preliminary figures, therefore, offer a good indication of how many properties in Cayman are owned by individuals and entities based overseas.
The age of Cayman’s population is distorted by foreign workers who are not accompanied by their families. There are around 14,000 children and young adults under 20, but almost 26,500 people aged between 30 and 49. There are, however, 5,402 people over 65 years old, 4,680 of whom are Caymanain — a key number for government policy, given the challenges it faces over inadequate pension provision and the cost of healthcare.
The full census report is not expected until June. However, Saunders said these early numbers are still of national importance, as most recently demonstrated by the COVID-19 vaccination drive.
“Having accurate population data is vital in public health situations,” he said. “I’m incredibly glad that we took a cautious approach and asked for a re-estimate of the population prior to determining our COVID-19 vaccination targets. It was important that we got it right to ensure our population was sufficiently protected prior to re-opening our borders and to meet the targets set by other nations when allowing Caymanians and residents into their countries.”
He said that although the estimate was higher than the Fall 2020 Labour Force Survey, which is estimated within a 5% margin of error, the actual preliminary census population count of 69,656 falls well within this margin.
“If you factor in the 3.2% of households that did not respond to the Census survey for one reason or another, the preliminary population will be slightly higher than the Labour Force Survey 2020 estimated upper band,” he said.
Saunders also noted how measuring the growth in the population by district, especially his own area of Bodden Town, is also essential for public sector planning and decision making.
“We all knew that the populations in the Eastern districts, primarily in the Savannah, Newlands and Bodden Town areas, had grown exponentially merely by observation, but to have this proven by the census data is very important,” Saunders said.
“Having this data is vital as we look at how the government must plan and budget for the sufficient provision of public services, such as schools, health clinics and policing, as well as infrastructure, such as roads and hurricane shelters. We have to know where people are in order that we meet the current needs and also adequately plan for the future,” the minister added.
See the preliminary report in the CNS Library or the ESO website.
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Category: Government Administration, Local News, Politics
Almost 2 years you’ve had to train, educate, and prepare many Caymanians to fill positions around the island. For shame and unfortunately typical…..nothing has been done. Now as we are slowly going to begin opening for business we will find ourselves short of the workers we need and will ultimately farm the positions out to ex pats. It’ll happen. Mark this post. The government has done nothing . Right back to business as usual with the nonstop whining about foreigners coming to work and stealing jobs from caymanians….. Don’t care any more and don’t want to hear it. Do it to ourselves every time.
Wake up Cayman
Fair. But is the big-business Chamber of Commerce a “civic group”??
LOL. not at all.
Hardly. Just check into how many millions their member companies owe in staff pension arrears!
Enforced servitude is the game.
Education=Opportunity…and hopefully careers, not jobs.
Perhaps if locals, of which I am, were afforded broader quality education from childhood, there would be no such thing as educational ignorance.
However, prevailing attitudes and expressions demonstrate that education does not equate to empathy, ethics or basic honesty and common sense.
Ie.. you can’t come here and “discover” lands,jobs and property and subjucate the innocent welcoming natives, without them lashing out eventually.
Didn’t you learn anything from the ancient Discoverers??!
It’s only right that there are foreigners here, to fill up the jobs that we Caymanians don’t want to do, such as low level gardeners, cleaners, carers, builders and mechanics etc. I do realise however that there are more jobs to be filled than there are Caymanians to fill them.
On the flip side, it is reasonable to expect us “locals” to aspire to better things, such as better pay, increased responsibility and control, job security and prospects, so that there are always pathways to advancement.
But we need better education. A realisation in the education sector that we need to be prepared for jobs in tourism, financial management, medicine, insurance, and even project mgmt and consulting, instead of always importing outsiders. However our schools do the bare minimum. They churn out ill-prepared youths who then need to rely upon businesses to fund a step-up in education. Some businesses do, but if it’s easier or cheaper to hire a permit holder, then when will our kids get the education to match their aspirations ? Tertiary education here is piss-poor, yet govt continues to support overseas degrees in subjects that will never find the graduate any job in Cayman.
Politicians continue to mark time, milking the system and trying to look like they are interested in their fellow Caymanians. The only thing our MPs stand for is their own re-election. If only a few could act like statesmen/women we might get the forward thinking Cayman that we crave.
Of the Caymanians I have contracted with in the past 10 years, I have only noticed two whose literacy I would call normal or good. The rest write poorly with bad grammar, misspelling, and no punctuation. I can understand them, but they would be disqualified from any jobs you mentioned. This should have been taken care of in school by age 14. There’s really no excuse.
Instead of teaching literacy, we know of at least one “educator” who was spending her time gay-baiting and “exorcising” the gay demons from students. What happened to that case? And how many more “educators” are doing the same and just haven’t been caught?
To 3.49 He also spoke of the ” pending return of thousands of tourism workers”. Doesn’t that mean more permits?
@10:05: With what number of Caymanians have you contracted in that period? Four? 34? 400? 4000? An assessment of the gravity of the problem depends greatly upon that number. We should expect a certain percentage of students will fail in English. Perhaps you scrape the bottom of the proverbial barrel with your hiring criteria. If those deficient in writing skills comprise a large majority of the general population, that might be alarming to certain outsiders; however, it would be “normal” in the context of the Caymanian population. It would be bad if those who suffer from linguistic incompetence are in, or aspire to be in, positions requiring good skills in verbal or written communication, but not so bad if they are trimming your hedges. Generally speaking, I esteem those who possess good spelling and grammar skills. butt eye am knot a grammr or spellin natzi bekoz most peeple can fully understand this sentunce even tho probubly it duz not cunform too standurds you got of english or grammer—as long az u are rite-ing the contracts and they r meerely signing on the dotted line and their job duzent need spelling skillz an good gramar and if they understan the contraks its all guud anoying mebbee but guud.
@3:49: I agree that the Cayman Islands should be doing a better job of providing students with marketable job skills and training before the students leave the system. And I agree that Caymanians should be provided pathways to advancement and the means to negotiate those pathways. It would be good if certain employers were required to provide a certain number of on-the-job training slots or internships. And it would be good if, by the time they graduate, students are inculcated with good grammar skills and have a mastery of proper spelling.
You should post on CMR, but seriously, the hedge trimmer can’t hope for a better job without literacy. The original post was about higher-end jobs. Interestingly, the most literate Cayman person I have dealt with is the owner of the pet service we use. The architect was second. There are about 10 others. All are independent contractors. Most are perfectly fine to talk to but are so poor at written communication that you can tell they try to avoid it. Not good for business. Again, these are issues that need to be handled by age 14 in school before they are out in the big world.
You dont get out much, do ya
That, and the willingness to hustle and to show one is willing to work hard enough to impress; not just clock in, clock out. And before anyone says that employers ask too much, these are profit-making enterprises after all. The hardworking bee gets noticed.
The community/ society that we live in has been created over the past 40 years or more without structured thought and lack of planning. With the advent of off shore banking and tourism we have consistently failed to take stock of what we wanted or what we needed to make these Cayman Islands a place where it’s people thrived with and in all aspects of existence in an environment geared to importation of wealth,amd labor and its attendant conflicts in a growing economy and society.
Our failure based on lack of knowledge and vision by elected leadership over the years has placed the local community at a clear and unequivocal disadvantage in aspects such as ; education, wealth, upward mobility, inability to compete , allowing wholesale land grabs by foreigners which now has created a market inaccessible to mid-lower income Caymanians, and the list goes on.
It is evident that we have allowed the creation of enterprise without thinking of the societal imbalances which can and have been created. It is also evident that our leaders who were largely good people lacked the substantive training and indeed guts to resist those coming with the intention to make as much as possible while supporting those who gave them the freedom to act and do whatever and wherever they wanted to do so. Giving concessions without scrutiny or accountability has been the hall mark of governments who failed to keep an infrastructure fee process in place to mitigate the resulting chaos in traffic on the island of grand cayman.
Human capital has only been given a token view in the last 20 plus years with increasing scholarships by government without a clear vision as to where we need to have our people educated in the context of the growing economy and the resulting heavy importation of labor in the financial services industry. In Tourism many scholarships were granted, however the end results speak for itself, an industry managed and worked by a majority of foreign workers. This obviously is fueled again by patronage of the establishments who thrived on cheap labor from other countries, our lack of cojones to implement a meaningful wage basis because they say it would affect business and we now have a useless minimum wage and a ranking of one of the most expensive pkaces to live in them”world”. It’s no wonder that hospitality graduates many of them have sought employment elsewhere.
Have we lost the opportunity of having a local workforce that is at least 3% unemployed the fact is that unemployment will always be with us for one reason or other. The PACT government has the opportunity to charter a course and create a legacy of inclusiveness, self worth and patriotic caymanianism by creating policies based on introspective reviews of how this society functions, where and in what are our people lacking to make them not just employable but also competitive. To provide opportunities for Caymanians to become entrepreneurs by providing in oartnershio access to funds, ability to own reasonable priced land and homes, provide for best priced insurance coverage for the people especially coverage for retired persons.. increasing retirement age for persons who are physically fit at an enhanced retirement age: which has contributed somewhat to the unemployed numbers of today.
Overall there must be a documented game plan for these islands, we can no longer function in a helter skelter manner driven by the ambitions of wealthy entrepeneurs and “ their” vision of caymans future of 20 plus story buildings, tearing down of our natural fauna for construction wherever they buy just because they own it and demand for concessions.
We the people must charter our course, we the people must benefit to the extent that there are no needs that we have that cannot be fulfilled because we plan and we carry out strategies that inure to our benefit and that of generations to come. PACT Government is time to forego the old tried and in some respect corrupt ways of governing UDP and PPM style. It is time to create positive impacts in the life of all of your people and the society at large. Selah
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A6:55am:
Bravo! As thoughtful,logical, and well put comment as ever I have seen here! Therefore, I shall reply in a thoughtful manner.
I’ve been party to initiatives, committees, organisations, conclaves, parlays, meetings, etc, regarding the issues in your comment. I shall relate how successive governments quiet those like you and I, who are restive and fed up because of the poor job those governments have done in alleviating the problems.
IF you all are annoying enough, here’s how they might try to handle you and buy time until the next election cycle or until your issue is no longer part of the public’s short attention span:
1. They’ll hold public meetings, maybe in all the districts, ostensibly to get public input into the problem(s). IF you have been a sufficiently effective pain, the meetings are attended by the relevant minister(s). If not, you have not been a big enough annoyance and they will send in their peons.
Reality: Past governments have held public meetings and the same issues have been analysed, cussed, and discussed to death.
2. They will appoint a committee with members from each district, or form committees in each district.
Reality: Don’t be blue pilled. The committee is one of the most valuable, well-used blue pills they have. They’ll place a couple of the most prominent and vocal activists (pains in their butts) on the committee(s). This makes the activists feel important. They are duped into believing that their voice and participation is very relevant. A member of a committee and appointed by a minister! Photo in the paper! Wow! You and fellow activists share high-fives.
More reality: Unless the issue has never been the focus of public attention, it’s a waste of time, a bone they throw to you to keep you occupied and feed your ego. What’s important to them is to get you off their butts and silent.
3. After many committee meetings, you’ll be asked to summarise your findings.
Reality: From the start, your committee should assign people to research the issue: press coverage, videos, minutes of and reports from past meetings and from past committees and groups who were also blue pilled into the same fool’s game. Consult with civic groups like the Chamber of Commerce and local professional groups to gather evidence of how the issues have been deflected in the past. If you do your research, you’ll find that the issue has been analysed ad nauseum and viable solutions suggested. The only finding you need to present is to hand them the results of past initiatives and state that this whole exercise a waste of time. IF they really cared they could have gotten off their lazy butts and found the solutions because the issue(s) are ages old and solutions suggested countless times but ignored. Make them commit to at least begin to implement the solution(s) or you all will be their most vocal and determined detractors come next election.
4. If you go with the flow and ignore the history of futile past endeavours, the next ploy they’ll use is to draft a report or a “plan”, or a paper, or whatever.
Reality: If you were to put in a pile all the minutes, reports, plans, papers, and recommendations, etc, forgotten by successive governments, it would approach the size of Mount Trashmore.
5. By now if you played it straight and took the blue pill, you drafted your summary, maybe had a parlay or two with the relevant minister(s) and might even been treated to a fete to honour your participation. The report is out and you are SO proud of yourself for being a part of this really big deal.
Reality: Yet another government breathing a sigh of relief that you are off their butts. Very little of your lovely plan will be implemented and it will be very minor parts. Yup, yet another blue pilled group of citizens have been had, wasted their time. The whole exercise will be like wetting your pants: You got some relief. Everybody has seen what you have done, but in the end all you have is a warm feeling and soon that will turn cold.
Fair. But is the big-business Chamber of Commerce a “civic group”?? LOL..not at all.
Hardly. Just check into how many millions their members owe in staff pension arrears!
Enforced servitude is the game.
7:12 thank you for your vpcomments. We have to remain persistent in order to effect change.
Jah Dread
Perfectly said!
Really. FFS
It is a problem that there are so many jobs that “ Caymanians don’t want to do.”
The problem comes from this mentality that there are jobs that Caymanians are too good to do.
What about the proportion of Caymanians who are not capable of doing the the so-called higher level jobs? These are the people who have been indoctrinated into believing that their nationality is the only qualification they need to have a high powered career, yet realistically they do not have the skills or ability.
To then have these loud, but misled, voices guide policy that limits businesses ability to bring in talent to fill the gaps, is creating a problem.
Most of them will be spouses of permit holders, residents, or caymanians
Are there really 873 unemployed foreign workers. Why are they still here, aren’t they supposed to go home if they don’t have a job?
I guess that depends what an “unemployed worker” is. A single person here looking for a job vs the foreign spouse of a wp/pr/Caymanian? I imagine the vast majority are the latter. Also what’s the difference between unemployed and unemployed worker?
WORC indicates the goal is “equal opportunity”…..don’t qualified Caymanians get a priority on positions in their own country or are we competing with the world for Cayman jobs? I am a qualified Caymanian that applied for a position and was granted an interview…..
I had to take a IQ type test and although I was qualified….the job went to an expat who scored slightly better on test…..WTF??
WORC was created by the destructive PPM to get rid of job security of Caymanians.
Created by the “destructive PPM” and promoted and maintained by the “destructive PACT.” Same ole same ole!
They come up with these fake demeaning BS tests..til someone brings a length of scanlin to work or down to the Rugby pitch.
But if I am a Caymanian qualified for the position shouldn’t I be priority over work permit holders? PACT is showing themselves to be as weak as the PPM begging companies for “equal oppportuniy”. Caymanians really dont want other Caymanians to succeed do they?
If you are a Caymanian qualified for the position, the law says you do have priority over a WP holder. The problem, imo, arises if you can’t afford to live on the $6/hour job that you are qualified for. If you are qualified for a job in which you can live on the proceeds, then no problem. Challenge for the job and hopefully get it. Good luck to you.
I didn’t get it and immigration allowed knowing I had was qualified and had applied. All facilitated by one of the slimy recruiters who seem to get paid to abuse our immigration regulations.
In the Brac it’s at least 3 times more Vehicles on the roads, and lots more people in the Stores, so why they say the Brac is not growing in population? Plenty people would not take part in the census, and some of the lazy civil service was/is too lazy to go back and check the Houses/apartments a second or third time, that’s why the census are not correct.
Well it was one or the other, people running the census worker out of their house or people complaining that census workers weren’t coming to them..Now we complain that the statistics are flawed. I’d say they did the best they could.
When you are paying 175k/yr to someone, you darn well better be sure they have the mental goods.
25 @ 5:17 pm – Of course! Because the census was conducted by the same Civil Service which owns the broken weather radar and can’t seem to get it fixed. Keep your radios, everyone!!
What a real shame and disgrace Caymanians are no longer able to afford to live or work on their island. Yet some some still foolishly believe our politicians and senior government officials are standing up for us.
Seems accurate. It would be useful to see where the majority of the work permits are held. My guess would be in the construction industry and that would also account for the increase in the male population. The previous government pushed for the reopening of the construction industry during the lockdown period – And this is the result. It would also be interesting to see the breakdown of Caymanian vs expats employed in the bombing construction and real estate industry. These industries pay way more than the Tourism industry. Just saying ……..
Our politicians know the only way to make a buck is to use their power to grant approval to new development. To stem that, you need lobbyists that will spend the same amount of money to buy their votes to obstruct uncontrolled, harmful ideas that have no benefit to the broader community.
Unfortunately it’s difficult to combat blatant greed.
56% is very generous. Depends how you define ‘working’. You can’t claim that the people when you apply for a police clearance, renew your driving license, try and call or email any CIG department, as people ‘working’ like the private sector. In reality the true figure is close to 75%, paid for by expats.
Certainly would never accuse the people behind the counter at dvdl of working.
Why would that be a surprise. Since I moved here 13 years ago, the island has always been 50 per cent expat and 50 percent caymanian. And the work permit laws mean only caymanians can be here I make that about the reported % who are employed. Sadly it’s most of the same % that ruined their job chances for years by not getting vaccinated when we first got the jabs from the uk.
Really? Because they didn’t take the f*+#^ng jabs?! Smh
And in related news there are over 800 job vacancies currently registered at WORC.
Accountants, bakers, construction, butchers, bartenders, lawyers, IT, pharmacist, teachers, taxis, carpenters, electricians, hotel management, cooks, farmers, nursing, insurance, painters, plumbers, fitness, waiters, vets, sales, lawyers, security, ………..
I think you get the point.
Most of those are work permit renewals and any Caymanian who applies will be five the run around and made to feel inadequate. Been there done that
True….and the same positions have increasing experience requirements that coincide with the permit holders recent history with the company. Thanks PPM
People don’t really want to let someone go who is doing an ok job in order to hire someone with less experience who is untested. This is one of the immutable laws of nature. It is naive to think that the greater good of the Cayman people is foremost in anyone’s mind in this process, or that it ever will be. Be as good as or better and your hiring prospects go up.
The initial hire was uncerysin and as it was filled by work permit SHOULD be understoof to be potentislly temporary….it is a fact of nature that the countrymen of the jurisdiction you are operating will come first.
And with language skills like this employers will be beating your door down to give to a management position. Caymanians First!
“Be as good as or better and your hiring prospects go up.”
Seriously, 10:29?
A significant part of “being better” is possessing the specified experience. How do you propose they get the experience if they cannot get the job? Oh, drats! There is that, huh?
Absolutely .. why want a lawyer who has experience in US/UK courts when you could have a Caymanian who gets their legal knowledge from watching TV and experience from contributing to CMR. What could possibly go wrong.
Most are inadequate and even Caymanians won’t hire them.
Pure rank BSSSS
Maybe a better question…how many caymanians working our of the true voting public
??
Or a different question – what proportion of those working and contributing to the economy, instead of drawing tax payer funds, are entitled to vote.
There were 23,596 registered voters as of Jan. 1. There were 47,311 people total in the labor force, 21,239 of them Caymanian. So it looks like the proportion of workers entitled to vote is about the same as the proportion who are Caymanian. I think the point you were driving for is that there are 28,368 people in the labor force who lack voting rights.
By those numbers there are 2357 unemployed voters. How many of those are drawing tax payer funds – as in easy to sway…
Don’t know. You should check with your government instead of asking me. A good number appear to be elderly, so not in the labor force.
Listen. No offense to expats who come here and do good services for our country. They are to be commended. But a huge percentage of them come here for their self interest only. As they work, they go straight to money gram, western union, or, the bank to send away their monies. They spend little in Cayman. To them, Cayman is just a place to make the dollars $$$$$$. And alot of them don’t want to take responsibility in contributing to Cayman’s welfare – unless they pretend to love and they marry a gullible Caymanian. Others hate the benefits Caymanians have and speak bad about them at their place of employment. As well, hide behind the keyboard to spew nonsense on this site. To me, it’s just all about them and their money. If they all had a chance they would go into our banks, grab every last dime, and go back to their homes to live like kings. They could care less for the “natives” here.
Caymanian view – Why should they contribute to poor Caymanians when they came here to help out their destitute families at home?.There are thousands of wealthy Caymanians who do not contribute to their poor countrymen, this is a result of Cayman having no income tax which spreads wealth around.
Excellent point. Over 30 per cent of nurses in the uk are not British nationals and send all their cash home, but they do a great job. Very rare to see an English front of house in a uk or us top restaurant or hotel these days – same in cayman. Why.. because they are the best. No different to a law or accounting firm in the USA, UK or Cayman employing the best person for the job… many local graduates lose out to foreigners for post school top jobs in law firms and big finance companies worldwide. You employ the best applicant… doesn’t matter where their from. You’re telling me there is a queue of caymanians better qualified? And also, why do you have to by a rule keep your money where you earn it? That would be the equivalent of Russian sanctions!
A fact that many here neither want to believe or admit as truth.
The wealthy Caymanians recognize the “poor Caymanians” for what they are, Jamaican Mac status beneficiaries now holding their hands out for charity.
What a bunch of nonsense. People work for their money and can do whatever they want with it. What exactly do you suggest they should do with their hard earned dollar : give it away to Caymanians? Please make it make sense. Like it’s not enough we are spending locally on overpriced everything. What was your point? We are not getting anything free. Literally paying for everything ultra premium price.
If you are not a diver, there is literally no reason to come to Cayman other than money. Be happy, if it was a bunch of do-gooders coming to Cayman you’d really have trouble.
Tell me… how is that any different to any other major developed nation. To use the uk as an example given the Cayman Islands are a uk territory, over 80 peercent of soak land care workers looking after the elderly on 8 pounds an hour, hotel cleaners, warehouse packers, are either ex Soviet Eastern European, Italian/Romanian, Or illegal immigrants. You know why… Ukraine nationals are not willing to do those jobs. I don’t see caymanians queueing to do these jobs here, so your post is baseless. If the local workforce won’t do the jobs, you have to find labor from abroad.
Lol presumably you meant “UK nationals”…
Correct. A very bad typo given the current events
5:27 pm. You said it. They are always complaining about the cost of living, what they see as unfair laws and practices, always enquiring where to get something that ‘doesn’t cost and arm and a leg’. I wish they would move to a place where they can be contented. As for the ones in high places, they find every excuse not to hire the ‘natives’, and they get away with it too. Only a few good guys.
And this is why no one takes you guys seriously, because you make very little sense in your arguments,
Someone works for their money and your upset with what they do with it? gtfo
Hers the thing. If you treat a worker like an unfortunate necessity, paid as little as you can get away with, with no job security, and always made to feel like a second class inhabitant – I wouldn’t even say a second class citizen because there is no citizenship rights on offer – then why are you surprised when they focus on what they can extract for their labour and not invest in Cayman. Particularly when from one work permit renewal to the next, or any dosage with their employer, they may be sent home with minimal notice. You can’t have it both ways – you can’t treat people as a necessary but dispensable evil and then expect them to love you.
And even when they get PR, they are treated as having bought their way in, and should be kicked out at the first sign of trouble. Send her/him back on the first flight!
You make it so that they can’t stay here long term or bring their own families and now you begrudge them sending money home! Incredible.
I am a Caymanian, born and bred, and I cannot agree with your post 5:27. While there are undoubtedly some bad apples, many are good people. They are here working for almost slave labour wages, paying the same high cost of living that we all pay in these islands, just to support their loved ones who are living in poverty back in their homeland. They are only doing what many of our forefathers did, seek jobs in other countries to create a better life for themselves and their families. I am grateful that my elders were given such an opportunity. We gave the people here work permits knowing the strain being brought on our infrastructure, and if it cannot be maintained then it is not their fault. It is the fault of our government and many of our merchants who are driven by greed and do not care about the poor they exploit, or the negative effects of their actions on our islands. There is a price we all must pay for such deeds but hopefully lessons will be learnt and better policies put in place for the good of our beautiful islands and those we bring and authorise to work and live amongst us.
Why should we care about your country? You bring us here, get us much work out of us as you can for as little money as possible, and after 9 years, kick us out.
Why would I give a hoot about a country that doesn’t even recognise me as human?
I’ll stay here, making as much money as I can for my family, doing the jobs you won’t do, until you kick me out without a second thought about me.
WE “brought (you) here? Listen, Bobo, you did not get here by being kidnapped and shackled in the hold of a ship; you came here of your own free will. You came knowing the temporary nature of your tenure here. We have given you the opportunity to make “as much money as (you) can for (your) family” during your stay here. You sound like an ungrateful lout. No one is forcing you stay here. You may leave at any time. Don’t let the door hit you on the butt on your way out. Attitudes like yours give us all the more reason to give top priority to hiring Caymanians. If you brought that attitude to work with you at my business, you would be replaced. If no Caymanian can be found as your replacement, at least I would try to hire an expat who appreciates the opportunity.
What % of Caymanians are employed in the Civil Service?
Why the hell is our Civil Service so big as a percentage of the population?
I’d really like to know.
Our leaders and DG HAVE to hire West Indians to ease guilt they try to force on us with the rampant anti-colonial bs, by filling the civil servants with foreigners, unlike any other Caribbean island, they make sure at least the civil servants are mainly natives. Manderson might have the love of foreigners for making them a priority but he will live to regret selling us out.
9:58 One must have a conscience to experience regret.
The Civil Service offers the greatest opportunity to foreigners for long term work, without rollover requirements, and a direct path to permanent residency and Caymanian Status. Check the statistics! As long as Franz and his tribe are in charge of the civil service this vexing situation will continue.
$1,500,000 a day pay off to those who vote for a living. Now you know.
One out of three assuming the 7000 number is correct.
..And it took a census (every 10 years) for CIG, which issues ALL work permits, to determine this??
World Ass Franz!!!
Voters, please remember Saunders words “work permits will not be issued so easily”. Let’s see what the next census says!
Saunders is a joker. Mr vacant words.
“World Ass Franz” Lol Perfect title!
Both he and Saunders need to go and the money they are being paid be given to the poor in these islands.
To 3.49 He also spoke of the ” pending return of thousands of tourism workers”. Doesn’t that mean more permits?
How much did this inaccurate data cost us? Immigration has an better record of who is here. Why not just ask them?
I for one would be very relieved if CIG would prioritize finding new ways to fund the Government and grow the economy instead of the old standard of incentivizing population growth for a quick buck. We’re in a vicious cycle of adding more people to pay off the debt, which then requires more infrastructure and bigger Government to service the increased population, which increases debt… and on it goes with no ceiling in sight or even planned. Where do we draw the line? The very term “sustainable development” is an oxymoron on a small island like ours. There’s only so much space. Increasing density by going up only leads to horrendous transportation, parking and waste issues. Do we want to become another Hong Kong! Don’t scoff at the notion while there is still no plan to stop. We’ve increased 5 fold in the past 40 years! Population density is also a critical factor in food security for the day that external factors will shut off food and energy supply. World war, nuclear war, dwindling oil supplies that will eventually spike the cost of import out of sight, super pandemic, super volcano or meteor impact are a short list of the possibilities. Grand Cayman’s development spread has gone far enough to become more than visibly obviously destroying the natural beauty and renewable resources that God endowed it with. Quality of life and happiness vs population are barely in the balance now, but the red line is fast approaching and we need to hit the brakes, not the gas. Just 2 bits from an old guy who’s been watching traffic grow from no stop lights required, to log jams twice/day… a reef densely packed with big fish to very few and far between, an island covered by forest to 50% asphalt and concrete, endless public access to over 50% private access only, Crimean violent crime. It all has to do with our population… no doubts whatsoever. BTW, regarding all comments in all publications, if you don’t want to put your name on your comments you’re probably not very confident in the validity of what you’re saying. “Just sayin”.
You should have stopped before the last sentence. We driftwood have to be careful.
It’s old already…
Still living on Troll Beach beach?
Race bait much?
What?
But Mr Platt is a driftwood so kudos to him for a very sensible post and including his name.
Hi troll.
Did Mr Platt introduce himself as such or does he identify as a Proud Caymanian?
Back to your lil bridge now, troll racebaiter.
Thank you Mr Platt for your well informed post. I generally agree with what you said but must tell you, choosing anonymous has nothing to do with being confident in the validity of my statements. Caymanians like me cannot speak out as freely as you can for fear of repercussions. We have seen the spiteful attacks on others who spoke out, or endured it ourselves in the past. So I am very grateful that CNS offers this platform for people like me to express my honest views.
It is easier to put one’s name to fairly gemeric and popular economic opinions than say comments regarding the intentional abuses by and failures of our government. Additionally many are more exposed to backroom repercussions we all know still exist in our government.
@Courtney Platt:
You have done a fairly good job of describing what concerned Caymanians not suffering from cognitive disability have been aware of and have complained about for decades. One of the problems is that all too many people engage in the same exercise that you have and rehashed the problems, but most don’t propose good and viable solutions. They want government to solve it for them, then when government implements half baked or ill-conceived solutions, people castigate government for “shoving this down our throats”. We are either part of the solution or part of the problem. You have vented (and signed your name) but offer little else than a well-worn rant. You insist that “The very term ‘sustainable development’ is an oxymoron on a small island like ours”. A good and accepted definition of sustainable development is: “development that meets the needs of the present, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” (Note the word “needs”? Not “wants” but basic needs.) Some general ideals of sustainable development are: uniform economic growth, protection and preservation of the environment, and respect and improvement of people’s social condition, and respect for and protection of human rights.
Your main beef, is that these essential characteristics (yes, the very characteristics of sustainable development) are not pursued with sufficient competence and zeal by successive governments. However; if these characteristics are part of a general “oxymoron”, then what?
Please suggest solutions: How do we curb runaway population growth? Curb runaway growth of physical development? Increase and protect public access? Achieve food security? Get away from the old standard of economic expansion by incentivising population growth? In other words, how do we achieve sustainable development in the Cayman Islands? (Yeah. Back that oxymoron term.)
I proffer a foundational solution upon which the rest of the issue depends: The stumbling block to sustainable development in the Cayman Islands is that it will come to pass only if the people of the Cayman Islands are willing to accept a standard of living that is vastly different from what we are now used to. Can we be satisfied getting by having just our basic needs met in an adequate but very basic way? The basic needs are: Food, shelter, clothing, community and personal safety and security, opportunities to work, health care, basic education. If the people’s collective answer is No, then we will continue on our current self-serving path and enjoy splendor now at the expense of squandering the resources and needs of future generations. If you can offer solutions that see the Cayman Islands achieving sustainable development while enjoying the same level of wealth, extravagance, and government services that we enjoy now, you are far more clever than any past government and certainly fly far above and beyond the level of the Panton/PACTless Clown Car occupants currently in office.
Fifty percent asphalt!! Ha ha ha!! Emotional! Take a look at the map.
Whoo Hooo, more funky, inaccurate data for CIG to spin, churn, chew on and spit out. I don’t believe this is in the least bit accurate.
And in 10 years, it will be 5%.
I don’t agree with 2:10 pm only because the percentage of “us” will diminish but Government is creating new ‘Caymanians’ by the thousands and so the statistics will look good.
And sooner or later it is going to impact who gets elected and what vote hungry politicians consider important.
When do the majority of workers get any democratic rights?
when they return to their country of birth
oh don’t worry the Jamaicans and Trinidadians have taken over so not long now.
409 households where they couldn’t reach anyone doesn’t mean people were there and hiding, that would be the 2nd (other 3rd etc) homes of the wealthy.
it doesn’t mean we can just add a couple thousand more people to the guestimate population.
Well quite. Half the apartments on smb are empty most of the year. I’m surprised it’s only 400 households
Yup. Look at their own countries. Lol
History has shown that Trickle Down economics does not work.
Correct.
The rich are not holding you back.
Not convinced you understand the economics. Many of the wealthiest people in Cayman bring their wealth from abroad and spend it locally on goods and services. Its one of the few places where the number of very rich people is relatively large enough for trickle down economics to actually benefit a local economy; put it another way, if they left and took their money with them would the local economy be better or worse off?
Agreed. It’s different if they make their money by bilking the less well off as they do in other countries, but most of the wealthy made their money overseas and then bring it here to pump around our economy. What’s not to like? They also pay significant fees to government for the pleasure, whilst using none of the expensive government services like education and healthcare, so there is no question over whether there presence benefits Caymanians.
How many of these are Jamaican construction workers who spend very little locally?
you are an absolute idiot if you think Jamaican construction workers don’t send alot of money on this little rock.
There is no such thing as spending very little locally. When was the last time you went to supermarket?
Or paid rent.
1 Apple is like $5 USD
I was home much more than normal in October-November, every evening by 5 and only out at night once a week or so. I was home a lot on weekends and as my schedule is flexible i was often home during the day.
No one knocked on my door or left a calling card saying they would return. Add one more to the population count please. And yes, i have a TV, indoor plumbing and a refrigerator.
I agree! The person who came to my complex complained it was her 2nd visit & I was the first person at home. Weelll…it was 3pm on a weekday. What did she expect?!?!
PS – I was home with Covid, so denied her entry & never saw her again.
Lucky to be home by 5. Most expats work 7am to 10pm in every industry
Talk about a play on words. In other words: the working population is 56% expat and 44% Caymanian or approx 6 out of every 10 people on the job is an expat. Good progress Cayman.
1:04 pm, if you think about it with 6 out of 10 being expat and at least 2 of the others being status holders, who rightfully are counted as Caymanian, we are so lost.
8.24pm More than 2 are Status holders. There are st least 20,000 Jamaicans with Status. What a mess.
A young, strong, able-bodied Caymanian male told me just last week (and I quote): “Government giving me $1500 a month to stay home. Why would I go look work?”
That isn’t the whole story by any means, but I’m sure there are others like him.
That being said, Cayman is over developing and over populating too quickly. It is not sustainable.
Sounds like a regurgitation of what was said on TV about the US stipend. Saunders,that you?
No justification for slashing needing people off the stipend.
Kenny outsmarting you.
25 @ 1:02 – I note your identification of a “young Caymanian” collecting the stipend rather than finding work. Please note, many Americans are presently expressing the same premise, based on their pandemic stimulus cheques. And in the UK, the same premise is called the Dole – a very popular form of “employment” there!
So, that attitude is not exclusive to Cayman. It’s clearly a worldwide habit, based clearly on personal, not cultural, traits!
You Lie. Troll
You can’t growth without foreign workers. There aren’t enough Caymanians to take up the slack. The unemployment isn’t that bad considering tourism has been decimated. If you want more Caymanians in the financial services sector, CIG should invest in education at all levels. A country this wealthy should be ashamed to not have modern schools for all students and a proper path to get a first class education from primary school to university without going abroad. There is clear gap in simple things like basic computer skills and being able to communicate clearly in writing. If CIG tries to force these companies to hire unqualified Caymanians they will just move more jobs overseas. This is how globalization works.
12.59pm Ref your second sentence “there aren’t enough Caymanians to take up the slack”, I would say the Civil Service has assuredly taken on a lot of slack Caymanians!.
And you just nailed the reason for the employability and poverty issues – EDUCATION! So many Caymanians are needlessly suffering right now.
Shame!
True thing that.
Education is a fiasco
We didn’t need a census to tell us this rubbish.we see and understand everyday .The question is when is our government going to finally wake up and do something instead of running lip service and perpetuate this immigration scam against their very own people.
How many radios per household?Vital information is being withheld.
You do understand that wasn’t to count radios but to find out how best to communicate with people particularly in times of crises such as hurricanes, earthquakes etc.
Some of our minds are so small and can’t think beyond the tip of their nose. Good education on these islands is something that is sadly lacking.
Ridiculous.
You mean like Radio Cayman did in Ivan? Running the same “Time to take shelter” message days after the storm passed?!!!
If it wasn’t to count radios why did it ask how many you have? Do you have at least one radio that you can use in the event of a hurricane or a telecommunications failure would work. Or of course it could just be that they have been recycling the questions back from the days when having a radio was considered a luxury item!
Oh Lord help us..I can’t believe that some of these people actually think that the census wanted to count the amount of radios in their home for no other reason that to know how many radios in the house. Really?? how can we be so narrow minded?
Seriously, I used to think that even uneducated people could have common sense but Cayman is sadly lacking not only in education but common sense.
OK. Let us assume that the reason to conduct the count of radios was to find out how best to communicate with people in times of crises. The sole question regarding the number of radios alone does not achieve that goal. The questions that should accompany the radio count is: 1.”What is your household’s primary means to keep up with current news about crises and other imminent threats such as hurricanes, flooding, earthquakes, etc? Radio? Internet? Television? Social Media? Other, please specify.” 2. “If your household should lose electrical power, how would your household keep up with the news of such threats?” The three questions taken together would give emergency response planners a clear picture of how the population gets its emergency news and give an insight into the weaknesses that need attention.
The more people that are living and working in Cayman the more opportunities there are for local caymanians to get good jobs and start businesses. How do you all think the economy in Cayman would be if it was 100% caymanian? Probably like it was in 1950.
Expats = growth = more opportunities for everyone
If you want to live in the 1950s, you are welcome to move to Brac or Little Cayman.
I’m Caymanian as well.
Please hush with your idiotic ideology and preaching false propaganda.You ain’t no Caymanian! The reality of this census just kill your whole intentional self serving concept Dead You just the type of individual we need gone from here !
Case in point re: the inefficacy of the CI educational system. Can’t punctuate or use the proper verb form and capitalization. Until the Cayman Islands addresses this issue, citizens can’t be well-armed for work in anything other than low-paying jobs. Stop whinging about ex-pats and take a cold, hard look in the mirror, accept that some work needs to be done and put yourself on a path of improvement. For those young Caymanians who have risen above this level of institutionalized mediocrity and entitlement, congratulations. You are the ones who make this country proud.
Right then.
Perhaps he should express himself in Cockney Rhyming Slang from jolly old England.
Bunch of pseudo elitists here..most of whom lose their darling wives to gardeners in the first year of island fever.
They can speak Pig Latin all day. They just can’t speak Pig Latin and expect to be entitled to any type of job that requires proper communication. And they can’t call foul because they aren’t hired because all they care to speak and write is in Pig Latin.
We Caymanians have got to get a grip on this attitude problem, or we might soon be going to other countries where we have no rights, just so we can work at low-paying jobs and send the money back home.
Thank you 12.54 for recognizing that a rising tide, lifts All boats.
1.50pm Well said, but what happens when the tide goes down?.
I don’t got no boat.
Those who can wade away do.
Are you “Caymanian as of right” or by way of a “status grant”? It seems the former, not the latter.
A Caymanian is a Caymanian, we all came from somewhere.
Tired of hearing people refer to themselves as generational. In any other country that would be considered prejudice.
No, in any other country it would be considered PATRIOTIC.
It’s just the invaders and colonisers who think like you who don’t want indigenous peoples to embrace their history and culture with pride.
Signed, Generational Caymanian
Cayman had an indigenous population? You’re misinformed
Lack of education – just doesn’t know what indigenous means.
Whatever, Native Americans originated from Siberia, the Europeans are descendants of the Neanderthals, and the human race itself is rooted in the continent of Africa before migrating to anywhere else.
Someone had to land ashore “Las Tortugas” at some point in time and Columbus may have just gotten credit for the history books.
Sounds like you need one to define what indigenous represents anyway.
CNS: Modern humans are not descendants of the Neanderthals but we share a common ancestor, notwithstanding the 1-4% of Neanderthal DNA found in non-African people, showing that some interbreeding did happen. We are thought to have diverged on the evolutionary tree at least 500,000 years ago. Sorry to be pedantic.
I’m so sorry you had to interject this obviously insecure illiterate pseudo intellectual who can’t accept that the British Commissioners from centuries ago found us to be a peaceful, clean, industrious and civilized Christian people.. no need to subjugate us. But still they come on BA, with no invitation. Still trying to claim their rights to be here as they’re Expats.
Hogwash me mates.. Fit in an shut up or go back to the wintery bogs.
Cns, you can’t acquire 1-4% Neanderthal dna without being a descendant of one.
CNS: You’re right. My comment was badly worded. What I should have said was that modern humans did not evolve from Neanderthals. I think this is what the original commenter meant but apologies if he/she was referring to the 1-4% in our genes.
It developed one.
And it is still developing.
I feel like you meant the opposite, but either way the person’s opinion is relvant.
@12:54..All well and good but their needs to be a balance or at least something must be tipped in favor of Caymanians..Right now the current trajectory shows Caymanians being squeezed out of not only jobs but their own country.
Don’t kid yourself (12:54 pm) job opportunities they want us to have are the menial ones, when it comes to an office job they send home for their own folk.
Remember we true Caymanians was here generations ago, when it was nothing here, we stayed and built these Islands up the Johnnys come lately would not come here when it was nothing here and help build it up, they only came after it was something that they could get from here. That’s the different of us true Long time Caymanians and the folks that would only come after this place got something that they could get.