Cayman has registered a 1,058 drop in work-permit holders based on January statistics from Workforce Opportunities and Residency Cayman.
As at 4 Jan. 2024, there were 35,443 individuals on work permits, a drop from a high of 36,501 in September 2023.
Immigration specialist lawyer Nick Joseph, in a recent update to his clients at HSM in which he shared the WORC statistics, said the reasons for the reported reduction of work-permit numbers are “unclear”.
“They appear to be across a wide range of nationalities. It could be due to a mix of factors including a slowing down of the construction industry, in particular as interest rates bite, and sites closed for the holidays, or simply and hopefully because hundreds of Caymanians including the summer’s school and college graduates, have been able to assume many of the positions that would otherwise have been filled with expatriate labour,” he suggested.
The drop in the January numbers was a continuation of a reduction that was noted in December when the statistics provided to HSM reflected a decrease of some 574 people.
The total number of work permits as at 5 Dec. stood at 35,927.
Joseph said that drop in permits “surprised us”.
“They seemed to make little sense in the context of the Islands “ramping up” in anticipation of the tourism high season,” he said.
By the numbers
Though Jamaican workers on permits dropped by 230 in the last month – the highest decline in permits by nationality – they still topped the list for the most workers on permits in the Cayman Islands at 14,971.
Workers from the Philippines came in second with 5,870 permits, 16.6% of the overall tally of work permits in the first week of January.
British workers came in third at 2,004, closely followed by Indian work-permit holders at 1,947.
Joseph, in analysing the drop in permits, suggested that another factor in the decline could be the pace with which people are being granted permanent residency, and accordingly drop out of the work-permit figures.
“There were 5,865 Permanent Residents recorded as at 29 November, 2023,” he said, which seemingly did not include dependents.
Work permits by nationality as at 4 Jan. 2024:
- 14,971 (42.2%) Jamaican – down by 230 in the last month
- 5,870 (16.6%) Filipino – down by 2 in the last month
- 2,004 (5.6%) British – down by 17 in the last month
- 1,947 (5.5%) Indian – down by 18 in the last month
- 1,176 (3.3%) Honduran – down by 26 in the last month
- 1,172 (3.3%) Canadian – down by 18 in the last month
- 902 (2.5%) American – down by 30 in the last month
- 890 (2.5%) Nepalese – down by 22 in the last month
- 716 (2.0%) Nicaraguan – down by 25 in the last month
- 650 (1.8% ) South African – up by 9 in the last month
- Total: 35,443
– Source: WORC
However, he also pointed out that at the rate status applications are being processed, a person applying now for the right to be Caymanian through naturalisation would not get through the system until 2032.
He added that some work-permit holders have simply left, given the high cost of living and the fact that hundreds of jobs are now being outsourced to workers in foreign jurisdictions “sometimes to people who used to hold the jobs in Cayman”.
“As the cost-of-living bites further, some businesses may have downsized, and for example some households appear to no longer be in a position to afford domestic workers,” he said.
Joseph said expatriate workers may not be the only ones leaving.
He pointed out that the “cost of living and artificially reduced salary levels (with anticipated increases in minimum wage not materializing) are conspiring to make life in Cayman unaffordable for increasing numbers of Caymanians, as well as some expatriates”.
He said he’s heard anecdotally that some Caymanians are seeking better opportunities or quality of life elsewhere.
“Other less troubling issues may be in play – for example reductions in the numbers of cashiers may simply be a consequence of fewer cash transactions as we transition more and more to digital payments,” he added.
These factors, he said, will hopefully be closely monitored by those setting and implementing policy.
“Growth remains critical to the operation of Cayman’s economy but is not necessarily reflected in the numbers of work permit holders alone,” Joseph said.
Top work-permit jobs
Domestic helpers and janitors remained at the top of the list of work-permit holders in the Cayman Islands, even though there were some declines in these job categories at the start of the year.
As at 3 Jan., 3,955 helpers and 2,175 janitors were on work permits.
Masons, wait staff/servers and carpenters rounded off the top five occupations on work permits at 1,578, 1,684 and 1,054, respectively.
Joseph said it will be a while before the labour data can be understood, but “we will have to watch these numbers closely”.
Top work-permit occupations
- Domestic helpers – 3,955
- Janitors – 2,175
- Masons – 1,578
- Waiters/waitresses/F & B servers – 1,684
- Carpenters – 1,054
- Gardeners – 1,030
- Kitchen helpers – 1,016
- Security officers – 727
- Cashiers (retail) – 675
- Line cooks – 506
- – Source: WORC
The drop in numbers did not change the strains on some aspects of core infrastructure, he said, as these issues continue.
“Hospital spaces have now been added to the list of core infrastructure that is seemingly past capacity, joining everything from schools to roads to garbage disposal. The implications of our seeming inability to prepare for long foreseen challenges, are troubling,” he added.
The points available for PR based on demographics remain unchanged for now, Joseph said, even though there has been a reduction in the nationalities on work permits.
As it stands, Jamaicans and Filipinos receive no points for nationality, while Britons and Indians receive five out of a maximum 10 points.
Hondurans, Canadians and Americans and every other nationality of origin, he said, receive the full 10 points.
Joseph said the 135 different nationalities that continue to be recorded amongst the work-permit holders “remains a statistic we can and should all be proud of”.
“For those that can afford it, Cayman shines ever brighter as a sanctuary in an increasingly disrupted world. Many are certainly continuing to move here. It will be interesting to determine patterns and deduce what is really happening in relation to the makeup of our population, and why,” he added.
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