Select a region
New official stats published this morning show that the total number of jobs in Jersey fell by 1,380 (2.2%) last year, the biggest fall recorded in comparable figures since at least 1998.
But it wasn't the same story in the public sector - government jobs increased by 400 to 8,530 in the same period.
The official numbers are from Statistics Jersey for the year to December, 2020.
Following the covid restrictions which shut down the sector for much of the year, the hospitality sector was hardest hit with hotels, restaurants and bars reporting the largest decrease in jobs at 1,040, which was the second largest fall in any sector to date - the largest being the annual decrease of 1,700 recorded by this sector in June 2020.
In December 2020, the total number of jobs in Jersey was 60,000. There were 51,470 jobs in the private sector and 8,530 jobs in the public sector.
Pictured: Total jobs in public and private sectors.
There was an annual decrease of 1,790 jobs in the private sector since December 2019, a decrease of 3.4%. The number of public sector jobs was 400 higher, an annual increase of 4.9%.
Both of these were the second-largest annual changes recorded for these sectors since at least December 1998, with the largest annual changes being those of June 2020 (-3,220 and + 520 respectively).
Pictured: Jersey's public sector is now the second largest employer, by sector, in the island.
The sectors which have seen the largest increases in job numbers over the last five years are:
Two sectors have seen decreases in job numbers over the last five years:
Pictured: the job number changes by sector in the year to December 2020.
The official stats also show how the number of 'single person businesses' has grown significantly over the last 20 years, and that continued in 2020 - while the number of 'undertakings' with two or more people has remained largely flat.
Pictured: the number of 'single person businesses' has grown significantly.
In terms of government jobs, the total number includes:
Government headcount and total FTE (full-time equivalent) were both the highest recorded to date, with the previous headcount and FTE highs both being recorded in June 2020.
The departments with the largest annual increase in staff were Children, Young People, Education and Skills, up 80, followed by Growth, Housing and the Environment, up 60, and Health and Community Services, up 50.
Pictured: Government jobs over the last 20 years.
This week the government confirmed three new roles to administer the extra workload caused by reducing the GST de minimis threshold.
Comments
Comments on this story express the views of the commentator only, not Bailiwick Publishing. We are unable to guarantee the accuracy of any of those comments.