More people employed than ever - but not in banking or public sector

Friday 07 October 2016

Jersey’s jobs market seems to be booming – but delving into the latest figures from the Statistics Unit shows the situation is more complicated than is at first apparent.

Total employment stands at just over 60,000 – the highest it’s ever been – and more than a 1,000 up on the same time last year. But there are subtle changes as to where people are working and their terms and conditions.

The biggest increase has been in the private sector – up by more than 1,500. The public sector actually saw a decrease of just over 300 jobs.

More than 70% of the workforce are in full-time jobs, with 16% having part-time jobs, and almost as many on zero-hour contracts.

In the private sector finance and legal services still dominate. It employs about 13,000 workers - more than one in five. On the whole the sector has shown steady growth – there was an increase of almost 200 jobs over the past 12 months, but the figure is still nowhere near the record of almost 13,500 in 2008. Again there are mixed signals.

Looking at the finance and legal statistics in more detail: banking, the mainstay of the Island’s economy for so many years, has steadily cutback on the number of people it employs – from 5,020 in December 2012, to 4,400 in June of this year. Whilst, by contrast there’s been a steady increase in the trust and company administration sector – from 3,660 in December 2012 to 4,870 in June of this year.

Both the wholesale and retail sector and the agricultural and fisheries sector continue to struggle. The first accounts for 13 out of every 100 jobs in the island, the latter for 3 out of every 100. Both saw a drop of 70 jobs over the past year.

Employment in the construction industry though seems to be steadily building. There were almost 250 new jobs in the sector over the past 12 months.