Education, training letting Caymanians down

The Auditor General has issued a report stating that a national policy is needed to improve employment prospects for Caymanians, who are currently let down by a lack of education and training opportunities, which hinder them from employment opportunities.

The report, called Improving employment prospects for Caymanians, issued by the Office of the Auditor General on Monday, stated that the Cayman Islands consistently achieved the global definition of full employment between 2019 and 2023. The Caymanian unemployment rate also met the definition every year, except during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sue Winspear, the Auditor General, furthered that, according the global definition, the Cayman Islands had full employment. This was also the case for Caymanians, except during the pandemic when the unemployment rate soared.

“This is good news for the economy but it will feel very different for Caymanians that are unemployed and wanting to work,” she added.

The report stated that there are a number of barriers to employment, namely low educational attainment by Caymanians and the lack of apprenticeships on island. Availability of childcare was another issue impairing Caymanian employment opportunities.

“Most unemployed Caymanians have a high school diploma or lower and while there are plenty of available jobs that require only this level of education, they tend to be low paid.” Ms. Winspear said. “I note that while progress has been made in developing a framework for technical and vocational education and training (TVET), careers guidance in schools does not cover this. Given that the majority of jobs in the Cayman Islands may require TVET skills, this needs to be more of a focus.”

The Auditor General said she had recommended that WORC prepare forecasts of long-term labour demands and the government develop a national employment policy, which needed to take a holistic approach.

The report stated that the government provided a range of employment programmes. Many of these are provided by WORC, but the AG questioned their efficacy.

 “The seven programmes delivered by WORC and its partners have an average completion rate of 83 per cent over the four years. Although this varies by programme, it is good news.”  Ms. Winspear said. “However, when you look deeper into the statistics it tells a different story. Across all of the programmes in 2022, less than half of applicants were accepted onto programmes and over a quarter of people started but dropped out before they finished. The low acceptance rate indicates that there are not enough places to meet demand. This is evident for the national apprenticeship programme where less than one in ten were accepted because of limited places.” 

This report and the original OAG reports on which this report is based are available at www.auditorgeneral.gov.ky .