Gov jobs go up, as private sector sees biggest fall on record

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).

Stats Jersey

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:

private education, health and other services (up 1,310, 19%)
construction and quarrying (up 730, 14%)
miscellaneous business activities (up 300, 5%)
financial and legal activities (up 220, 2%)

Two sectors have seen decreases in job numbers over the last five years:

hotels, restaurants and bars (down 770, 15%)
wholesale and retail (down 430, 6%

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.

Stats Jersey

Pictured: the number of ‘single person businesses’ has grown significantly.

In terms of government jobs, the total number includes:

Government of Jersey10 (GOJ) core jobs (filled on permanent and fixed-term contracts)
Government of Jersey non-core jobs (filled on zero-hours contracts)
Government of Jersey Trading Bodies – Jersey Fleet Management and Jersey Car Parks
non-States Workers – individuals who do not hold an employment contract with the Government of Jersey but who are remunerated via the Government of Jersey payroll provision; such individuals include States Members, Commissioners, Non-Executive Directors, Jurats and Shadow Board Members
the States of Jersey Development Company, trading as the Jersey Development Company (JDC)
employment by the Island’s twelve Parishes

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.

Stats Jersey