Despite a slower growth rate last year compared to 2005, the construction industry remained by far the largest employer in the Cayman Islands.
When tabling the Annual Economic Report last week, Financial Secretary Kenneth Jefferson told the Legislative Assembly that the construction industry accounted for 18.1 per cent of the 35,016 people employed in the Cayman Islands in 2006.
The total labour force actually declined by 2.2 per cent from the year before.
‘This decline was anticipated since the labour-intensive physical phase of the post-Ivan reconstruction work had reached its end stage,’ Mr. Jefferson said.
The declining labour force did have a positive effect in that it brought down the unemployment rate from 3.5 per cent in 2005 to 2.6 per cent in 2006.
Other major employers in the labour force included business services at 12.7 per cent; wholesale and retail at 12.1 per cent; hotels and condominiums at 10.8 per cent; and financial services at 9.2 per cent.
Even though the bulk of the post-Ivan construction recovery was completed before 2006, the construction industry continued to grow last year and remained one of the key elements to the country’s economic growth, the Annual Economic Report states.
Building permits reached 1,290, or one-third higher than in 2005.
‘However, building permits and project approvals for houses have slid down during the year, although those for apartments and condominiums remained on the upturn,’ Mr. Jefferson said. ‘Significant increases were also noted for other categories of buildings.’
On the sales side, the report stated that the real estate market posted a mixed performance in 2006.
‘The volume of property transfers rose by 34.3 per cent while total value slid down by 24.1 per cent, indicating the average value of property transfers declined compared to 2005,’ the report stated.
Certificates of Occupancy rose by 78.1 per cent in 2006 over the previous year. Apartment and condominiums Certificates of Occupancy – which were almost 30 per cent of the total – rose 34.4 per cent over the previous year.
The winding down of the post-Ivan reconstruction work also led to a decline in imports, from $995.3 million in 2005 to $906.1 million in 2006.
‘This is traced mainly to the reduction in capital goods imports by 27 per cent and in intermediate goods by 42 per cent,’ the report stated, adding, however, that consumer goods imports grew by 24.6 per cent in 2006.
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