This is the first time this issue has been in the top three, having increased by 31 percentage points from 8% in December 2018, according to data published by Statistics Jersey as part of the latest Business Tendency Survey.

Other key issues were external financial regulations (56%) and staff skills (53%). 

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Pictured: The key issues in December 2018 and December 2019.

The island’s reputation – which had been among the most-cited issues since June 2011 – went down by 12pp. 

While staff skills were the second most-cited issues in December 2019, 40% of finance companies said they expect employment to be higher in December 2020, compared to a quarter (23%) expecting a decrease and 37% for whom no change is expected.

A quarter (25%) of finance companies expect to hire less than 5% more employees before the end of the year. 15% of companies expect an increase of 5% or more.

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Pictured: 37% of finance companies are not expecting any change in employment. 

In comparison, 21% of non-finance companies expected to see employment decrease, with 15% expecting an increase.

Turning to business activity – which is a measure of the total amount of work undertaken by businesses operating in Jersey – a quarter (27%) of businesses reported an increase, while a fifth (22%) reported a decline and the remaining 51% saw no change.

The business activity indicator was positive for the finance sector (+17 pp) and neutral for the non-finance sector (0 pp).