UCCI leaders seek to plug skills gap

Academic leaders hope to use a labour market survey to better link training and opportunities to the jobs of the future.

The Labour Market Assessment found the skill set, qualifications and interests of jobseekers in Cayman is mismatched with the opportunities likely to be available as the island’s economy expands and diversifies.

The University College of the Cayman Islands, which was the lead agency on the study, in collaboration with Workforce Opportunities and Residency Cayman and the Chamber of Commerce, is seeking to reform its own programmes to better match the economy of the future.

The study took place as part of UCCI’s RESEMBID project – Renewable Energy and Sustainable Development Training – which was launched in July 2022.

Emerging industries, including solar energy and technology, are expected to create hundreds of additional jobs in the next year.

But research shows little interest in those fields from Caymanians looking for work.

The assessment warns this could lead to an increased reliance on work-permit holders, even as new jobs are created.

UCCI hopes to help change that dymanic, partnering with government and the private sector to protect existing jobs and prepare Caymanians for the jobs of the future.

Matthew McGill, project officer for UCCI’s RESEMBID project, said in a press release, “It is important for the Cayman Islands to understand its workforce so that we can best prepare community members for future skills and so that we can plug the skills gap between employers and employees.

“Some key pieces of information came out of this study, not least that there is a current misalignment between job vacancies and future skills needs and the qualification level of unemployed Caymanians.

“Unless training is put in place to upskill Caymanians in these key areas, the Cayman Islands will have to continue to rely upon permit holders to plug the gaps.”

Pointing the way

Robert Robertson, president and CEO of UCCI, said the report provided much-needed guidance for the university and its partners.

“This study is a crucial piece of information for the Cayman Islands as it shows where funding and training needs to be directed to plug not just the skills gap but also the employment gap in the Cayman Islands,” he said in the press release.

“The findings give us a roadmap that we can utilize to ensure that we can deliver the skills and qualifications that the Cayman Islands needs for the future advancement of Caymanians.”

Two study populations were surveyed: 123 employers across all industry groups including the four industries for the RESEMBID project – construction, hotels and tourism, ICT and solar photovoltaic (renewable energy). The second group comprised 435 underemployed and unemployed Caymanians between the ages of 18 and 45.

The survey’s key findings:

• There is a misalignment between the demand and supply of skills in the Cayman Islands, with jobs of interest not aligned to the future jobs in demand except in the case of accounts and finance.
• Out of the industries surveyed, firms in solar photovoltaic and ICT reported being the largest employers of Caymanians.
• Top job positions employed across all sectors were accounts and finance (36%), operations managers (35%) and receptionists (25%).
• Of the 123 firms surveyed, 76% said they would be actively hiring within the next 12 months showing a clear expectation of future job growth.
• When asked how many employees they plan on hiring in this time frame, the largest employers for job growth were accommodation and food services; information and communication; financial and insurance; professional, scientific and technical; and electricity fuel and air conditioning. These align closely with the sectors within the RESEMBID training programme.
• When asked how many of these would be skilled workers, 41% will be highly skilled vacancies, 47% semi-skilled and 12% unskilled.
• Firms also expected to see a shift in their workforce from highly skilled professionals in the main to semi-skilled. Of the 1,257 employees within the 123 companies surveyed, 61% were highly skilled. The firms expected to recruit only 41% highly skilled employees in the future, seeing a shift in needed skills.
• The impact of new technology was driving many concerns amongst employers, specifically in the scientific and ICT sectors.
• High-demand future jobs for the Cayman Islands were listed as accounts and finance (18%), digital marketing (15%), professional and technical (15%), operations management (13%), and carpenters (12%).
• Of the underemployed Caymanians surveyed, the highest percentage worked in customer services (18%).
• The main reasons given for being underemployed was that they were not qualified for available jobs (32%).