Local unemployment rate falls to record low
(CNS): The unemployment rate among Caymanians fell to a new low of 3.6% in October 2022, with just 796 local people declaring themselves jobless, according to the Economic and Statistics Office’s Fall Labour Force Survey. With another 9,000 people added to the workforce last year, the population is now over 81,500, an increase of more than 10,000 people since the 2021 census. Allowing for the margin of error, it could be as high as 86,606.
This latest ESO survey also shows that overall unemployment, including permanent residents and all categories of expatriate workers without a job, has hit a record low of just 2.1%, which is categorized as full employment.
Caymanians now make up 37% of the 56,355 people who are currently employed here. Jamaicans remain the largest group of work permit holders at 21,888, making up almost 29% of the workforce. They are followed by 6,657 people from the Philippines, while the third largest group of foreign workers is now Americans at 4,252.
Overall, the number of people with a job has increased by 22.7% compared to the figure reported in the 2021 Census.
But despite thousands of jobs being created during 2022, there are still concerns that a growing number of workers are underemployed. Over 2,800 people reported being in that category, double the figure in the spring survey. Underemployment is defined as ‘Involuntary part-time’ work, where workers who want to work full-time can find only part-time work.
The majority of local people who are not working and are looking for a job reported “no work available” as their main reason for being unemployed. Almost three-quarters of the unemployed have previously held a job but almost 49% of local people without a job said they had been out of work for more than a year.
For those in work, salaries remain low. Around 4,000 people are earning less than the minimum wage of $6 per hour and some 21,000 people are earning less than $2,400 per month. Meanwhile, almost 60% of the entire workforce is paid under CI$3,600 per month.
The survey also shows that almost 16% of workers are employed in the construction sector, with just 7.1% working in the financial services sector.
See the 2022 Fall Labour Force survey results here:
- Fascinated
- Happy
- Sad
- Angry
- Bored
- Afraid
Category: Jobs, Local News
I saw KFC offering $6.50 per hour.
Imagine at this rate working 60 crazy hours a week, and earning less than $20,000 a year after deductions. Working 40 hours would be below 13k after pension and health insurance.
Disgusting company, Disgusting food.
Don’t forget the tips!
What I would like to know is where exactly have they pulled these figures from. Have the unemployed getting ha fours from NAU also been reduced? If the unemployment rate has truly been so drastically reduced, surely NAU’s records should reflect that.
I would love to see a statistic of how many people receive NAU benefits each month?
If you add the hotel and restaurant employment together, they are a significant % of the workforce. The categories seem to be chosen from some UN manual rather than being selected for relevance to Cayman.
BS figures. Many underemployed or unemployed Caymanians are not included in those numbers.
I do not know why they showing a photo of a major construction site. Those sites are fully occupied with work permit holders. You can count on one hand the Caymanians employed to work there, and common labor start off around 10 bucks an hour. Our Island is truly in a mess.
CNS: We opted to use a picture of a construction site because that sector is now the largest employer on the islands and, despite your point, has repeatedly been touted by politicians and governments as critical for local jobs, which they claim justifies the continued development that has fueled public concerns.
My thumbs up is to the CNS reply.
Surprised how few Caymanians there are. Explains a lot of things.
caymanian unemployment has been and always will be a myth.
those that cant find a job become politicians
Minimum wage is for beginners or simple labor tasks that doesn’t require much specialized skills. Increase the minimum wage and prices will go up for many things that will not be offset by the expats receiving minimum wages. Dumb idea to increase minimum wages.
Also, mandate government to hire Caymanians only since CIG pays overinflated wages.
the myth that a higher minimum wage means higher cost has disproven at nauseum. Find a new talking point for your love of exploiting the poor. Alos funny how all those minimum wage jobs were the ones that people couldn’t live without during lock down.
You obviously are a caring person that thinks with their heart but you obviously are also unlearned and ignorant when it comes to economics.
Increasing minimum wages leads to inflation that negatively impacts those you think you are championing for.
It will also lead to less jobs as increased wages lead to decreased demand.
If you think the CIG is bad now, it would be even worse if that were the case.
May be true but at least the overpayment subsidy of CIG will only benefit natives and not expats.
“The majority of local people who are not working and are looking for a job reported “no work available” as their main reason for being unemployed. ”
hahahaha. No work available? That’s utter BS. If I wanted to get a job I could go and find work by the end of the day. Any work. There are businesses desperate for staff. If anyone gives this excuse then it means that they don’t want to work.
agreed. plenty of work out there. Problem is they would rather bum off government than work their way up the ladder in a company. It’s been done before people just lazy and expect everything to be handed to them asap.
#Culture
The numbers are bullshit, starting with the fact that if there are 36,000 expatriates here on work permits, how are their only 31,000 in the workforce?
This is a pretty good insight into Cayman’s lack of educational standards.
ha ha, was going to comment to explain, but it’s just not worth the effort.
the number of upvotes is telling… our people are really lacking certain skills
OK. Forgive the autocorrect typo, selecting “their” instead of “there”, and explain how it can be correct that there are only 31,000 expatriates in Cayman’s workforce on a day when there are 36,000 expatriates working in Cayman on work permits.
Educational standards or work ethic?
I’d say the latter.
Bofe
Children
Yeah, I’ve been questioning a lot of the figures from ESO. I haven’t read all the footnotes and additional disclosure stuff but some of the stuff just doesn’t add up. For example, the census cost something like $2m kyd. How?
They all “work” for the government
What a joke
*local unemployable rate.
Locals, with all the scholarship and employment opportunities available to them, will squander them.
So many job positions and educational grants posted where the first requirement is Caymanian status, listed above GPA or education level, as though it were some sort of qualification in and of itself.
Then they cry foul when their peers surpass them. They made these choices, now make peace with them.
More people working for lower wages while costs spiral out of control. This rat race is truly unsustainable.
record numbers of work permits in effect results in record low numbers of caymanians unemployed. work permit holders numbers decrease caymanian uneployment rate inceases.
Define employable and unemployable Caymanians.
Those that want to be partners at law firms but have the writing skills of a conch.
What about the ones that are held out as partners in law firms, but secretly are not partners? What of them.? They read and write well enough to do all the work and have the “prestige” but not well enough to participate in the profits?
No different than any law office in the world. The worker bees are paid enough to get them to keep working. Most jobs are like that.
The Premier is crowing about lower unemployment, but the key is:
“For those in work, salaries remain low. Around 4,000 people are earning less than the minimum wage of $6 per hour and some 21,000 people are earning less than $2,400 per month. Meanwhile, almost 60% of the entire workforce is paid under CI$3,600 per month.
The survey also shows that almost 16% of workers are employed in the construction sector, with just 7.1% working in the financial services sector.”
The mass importation of poverty and destruction of the Caymanian way of life is accelerating.
How are people earning less than the minimum wage? Or are you ignoring gratuities which amount to a majority of income for people in the service industry?
You do realize the service industry has a high & low season right?
High season is basically 4 months of decent gratuities and the rest of the year slightly okay or non-existent especially in the condominiums.
This is the first time things have actually gotten back to what it used to be BUT those Summer months can be pretty brutal.
10, possibly 15 thousand more people in just 2 years???? The only people benefiting out of that are landlords and utilities. Far too many for an island so small.
and seems like mostly low paid jobs which adds to social issues.
Yes- a clear signal to investment in real estate again. Let the renters pay the mortgage.
Tell that to the people who just got jobs from not having any. then tell them they should go back to not having a job because we don’t want the landlords and utilities to make any money.
I love how some are always ready to forego everyone ELSE’s livelihoods for their own virtues.