There’s good – and bad – news in the latest Labour Force Survey (LFS) published by the Economics and Statistics office for the Fall of 2023. The good news is employment is up – but the bad news is so is that so is the unemployment rate. This apparent contradiction is resolved because there has been a significant increase in the overall size of the labour force.
The report shows the unemployment rate (the proportion of unemployed persons to the total labour force) at 3.3%. The total labour force increased by 5.1% to reach 60,513 persons. The employed labour force was estimated at 58,504 people, an increase of 3.8% compared to October 2022. The number of unemployed people was estimated at 2,008.
Employed Caymanians were estimated at 21,563, reflecting an increase of 2.2% when compared to Fall 2022. The number of unemployed Caymanians rose by 347 persons to 1,143 persons in October 2023, resulting in an unemployment rate (among Caymanians) of 5.0%.
The LFS Report also presented the population estimate of the Islands as of December 2023, which increased by 3.9% from year-end 2022 to reach a total of 84,738. The Caymanian population rose by nearly one percent, to to 39,068, while the The PR (Permanent Resident) population reached 7,690 persons as compared to 6,629 persons in October 2022. The Non-Caymanian population was estimated at 37,980, an increase of 4.9% relative to 2022.
The report defines Employed people as those who, during the reference week, did any work for pay or profit; that is, paid work in the context of an employer-employee relationship or self-employment. It also included unpaid family workers who contributed directly to the operation of a farm, business, or professional practice owned or operated by a related member of the household. Based on the International Labour Organization (ILO) guidelines, work can be for as little as an hour during the reference week but excludes unpaid domestic housework and volunteer work but included those temporarily away from their jobs.
The report also found that, In the Fall of 2023, males constituted 52.6 percent of the labour force, with females comprising the remaining 47.4 percent. In terms of age distribution, the labour force was predominantly composed of individuals aged 35 to 44 years (28.8%), followed by those aged 25 to 34 years (26.4%), and individuals aged 45 to 54 years (22.1%).
The labour force distribution by nationality status showed that 37.5 percent were Caymanians, 53.7 percent were Non-Caymanians, and 8.8 percent were Permanent Residents. Among specified educational attainment levels, the labour force participation rate ranged from 36.5 percent among those with, ”none (no education)” to 89.1 percent among those with a “college/university” education.
On average, employed persons worked 43.7 hours per week. A more detailed analysis indicatedthat males worked an average of 2.4 hours more than females. Further breakdown by status revealed that Caymanians worked an average of 42.6 hours per week, while Permanent Residents With the Right to Work (WRW) and Non-Caymanians averaged 43.5 and 44.4 hours per week, respectively.
Regarding earnings, the report showed approximately 61.4 percent of employed individuals earned CI$2,400 or more per month. The proportion was higher among employed males (64.1%) than employed females (58.3%). A higher proportion of Caymanians (77.9%) earned CI$2,400 or more per month compared to Permanent Residents WRW (76.8%) and Non-Caymanians (47.6%).
More information on “The Cayman Islands’ Labour Force Survey Fall 2023 Report” is available at www.eso.ky .
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