Labour Force Survey shows population over 90,000 and lower overall unemployment, but local jobless remains above 4%.

(CNS): The results of last autumn’s Labour Force Survey (LFS) confirmed that as of October last year, the population in Cayman had increased to over 90,000 after an administrative review by the Economics and Statistics Office.. Of those, almost 65,000 are in the workforce, an increase of 6.6% on the 2024 survey.. The unemployment rate overall was 2.6%, but 4.1% among local people, a decline of half a percentage point from the 2024 Fall LFS..

The number of people employed in the workforce at the time of the survey reached a record level of 63,289.. There was a slight increase in the unemployment rate overall from 2.4% to 2.6%, though the number of local people in work last October had increased by 13.4% from the 2024 survey.. There were 1,700 people unemployed in the labour force, with youth unemployment (aged 15 to 24) was the highest at 13.7%.. The unemployment

rate among women is 0.2% higher than among men, while locals make up more than 61% of those out of work.. The overall population stood at 90,577, a 2% on the previous year.. The ESO said this was mainly driven by permanent residents, whose numbers were revised upwards using administrative data to 9,061, up from 8,184 in the Fall 2024 LFS.. The Caymanian population saw a more modest natural increase of 1.1%, reaching 41,063, while

the non-Caymanian population increased by 1.1% to 40,453, relative to the 2024 figures.. A significant concern is the level of under-employment in the country.. Almost 9% of people in work said they were under-employed because they can only find part-time work or are in jobs that don’t require their skills or education — the largest portion of those saying they were underemployed.. The under-employment rate for Caymanians is now 7.5%, and higher still for all

women.. Almost 11% of working women said they are over-skilled for their roles or are not working enough hours.. The survey revealed a paucity of workforce development.. According to the details now being captured in the survey on training and development, 62.6% of the workforce has not participated in any personal development training.. Among those who have, Certified First Aid is the most common, followed by customer service, with less than 10% of the workforce

receiving that.. Workers are reporting very little opportunity for promotion, which is of specific concern for Caymanians.. Only 22.8% of the total workforce received a promotion, and the majority of those were expatriate workers.. Even more concerning is that over 28% of the workforce earns less than $2,400 per month, and more than 60% of those in work earn less than $ 4,800 per month.. Construction remains the largest measured industry category for workers, and

60% of all construction workers as of autumn last year were on work permits, with just over a quarter of those jobs being held by Caymanians and another 14% by permanent residents.. In this survey, the ESO has also captured details of when workers arrived in Cayman.. Almost 45% of the labour force has arrived in Cayman since 2020.. It also revealed that 3,660 people were new entrants to the workforce in the fall of

2025, but just 321 of them were Caymanians.. See the full report on the ESO website here.

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