A year on and in a very different world, we have all taken a step to the left in both places – more defined in the UK, I grant you, but with Reform Jersey now taking seats in Government and in Scrutiny, this is reflected in the policies we see, coming through a Chief Minister-led alliance.
To be fair, some viewed this as a ‘marriage’ that wouldn’t last, and, although still early days, the unspoken compromise appears to be holding. As we head into 2025, some of the policy effects of the new Government Plan will land and we may move from less talking more doing.
Pictured: We started the year with a different Prime Minister and Chief Minister…
The new minimum wage – and the support packages for businesses – will become a reality in April 2025. Chamber has been part of these discussions from the get-go, with early meetings with the Ministers of Social Security and ED.
By and large, they listened and have bought some requested business support forward. With the trusted team at Jersey Business delivering the access mechanism to those packages, we are reassured and in January we will have a Chamber/Government/Jersey Business briefing for everyone.
Chamber do still feel that a different wage rate for those 16- to 19-year-olds in full-time education on-island would better support those part-time jobs where the first-time ‘Saturday job’ experience was and is so important. However, a new support for apprentices was something we asked for and is in the proposals.
By 2025, we hope there will be a resolution to our ferry service dramas, some reforms in planning, more housing delivered, procurement improvements and a retail strategy to provide some direction to businesses.
Pictured: The Jersey-Guernsey ferry saga made for a dramatic – and unsettling for many businesses – end to 2024.
Further optimism may also be drawn from our favourite local detective generating a flurry of tourism bookings and all with a settled government. Optimism, then. Stop reading now and get the tree decorated!
But, hang on… It’s big stuff, further out that worries me. The Jersey demographic is concerning, and we have a serious numbers issue. If you check how many children we have under four, compared to those in their late teens, you will see the difference is over one thousand less.
Unless we grasp this, you will see the Jersey workforce in 15 to 20 years – if not sooner – with holes in it. The reality to avoiding a population drop, requires the agreement and creation an island that is so attractive, that skilled people will choose Jersey over every other place with a dropping population – and that is every island, most of Europe and further afield too.
Achieving this will take investment on a big scale – from brave leaders chosen by an engaged electorate. Let me just repeat that: an interested public, voting in larger numbers, for political leadership, who would be willing to invest big in creating an island offering that is irresistible.
Pictured: How will the island deal with the ‘Bean Drain’?
Trouble is, we, like many others, are not good at long-term. Maybe we need the 2025 conversation to be of the years ahead, not just the next one.
That said, let me take this opportunity to wish all Chamber members, businesses, employees and their families and the Chamber team that supports all that we deliver, the very happiest of times over the festive season.
READ MORE…
This article first appeared in the December/January edition of CONNECT magazine, which is the Chamber of Commerce’s official partner. From an Unplugged interview with the Bailiff to an investigation into the ‘Bean Drain’ and an insight into how stores make the high street sparkle during advent, it’s a corker of an edition, and you can read it full below…