Just over 1,300 tourism stipend recipients are registered as actively seeking employment.
The Workforce Opportunities and Residency Cayman agency says there are 1,310 people – among an estimated 3,000 stipend recipients – that have sought assistance in finding jobs.
Of those, 544 were already registered with the department prior to the COVID crisis.
Registering with WORC means they can access the JobsCayman portal, they are alerted when jobs become available and their applications must be considered before a work permit can be granted.
Registered jobseekers also get access to free training and to assistance from WORC staff in finding employment.
A total of 4,117 people applied for the tourism stipend, now set at $1,500-a-month, since the programme began.
Of those, 3,673 were approved, according to the results of a Freedom of Information request filed by the Cayman Compass with the Department of Tourism.
That statistic reflects the total number of recipients rather than the number currently receiving the monthly payment.
The fund was set up to help displaced tourism workers cope through the border closure and beyond.
Laura Watler, acting director of WORC, said 932 people on the stipend had specifically indicated they did not need assistance in finding jobs.
She said some had medical issues or were nearing retirement. Others were confident of finding alternate employment on their own or already had a job to go back to when the borders opened. She said business owners and public transport operators were among those who might be receiving the stipend but not actively seeking work.
Watler added, “A number of job seekers have now indicated when the borders fully reopen they are interested in returning back to their previous jobs and some stated that they had been made a promise by their former employer of more hours once the borders reopen.”
The WORC department can only track data and advocate for those registered in its system and urges anyone looking for work to sign up.
In the past few months, Watler said 122 people who had registered with WORC had been placed in jobs and a further 270 had been trained, through various programmes, to re-enter the tourism workforce.\
She acknowledged there was some scepticism about the viability of the sector as a career choice following the impact of the pandemic and border closure.
“There is a hesitation to be employed in this field during this time as the pandemic causes more uncertainty than normal,” she said.
However, she said, there were trained Caymanians in every sector of hospitality, including food and beverage, and WORC has been collaborating with hotels and other private-sector partners to provide training opportunities.
“WORC continues to strengthen [its] partnership with the Cayman Islands Tourism Association and other private-sector companies in various industries to better understand what their current labour needs are, and what positions are needed in the future as the borders move through the phased reopening plan,” she said.
Watler said WORC would continue to monitor data through the JobsCayman portal and insisted it is “vitally important” for Caymanians to register with the portal and to apply for positions when they are advertised.
She said that would enable the relevant boards and administrators, when considering a work permit application, to ascertain if Caymanians had applied for a specific job and what the outcome of that had been.
WORC is not only intended for people who are unemployed.
Close to 3,000 people are signed up with the portal, many of whom are already working and are seeking to be alerted about alternate employment opportunities.
Related Videos
