Topic: unemployment
Cayman unemployment rises but remains below Caribbean average
The latest data from the Economics and Statistics Office shows that Cayman’s unemployment rate stood at 2.6% in December 2025, up from 2.4% in the same period in 2024.
From 18 to 92, seasonal work programme attracts large turnout
A 92-year-old was among more than 650 people cleaning up docks and beaches as part of the NICE seasonal work scheme.
Unemployment rate dropped to 2.4% in second half of 2024
Labour market estimates from the Labour Force Survey in fall 2024 indicate the unemployment rate was at 2.4%.
Cayman jobless rate low – but women more likely to be out of work
Cayman's jobless total is so low, it is considered full employment – but women were more likely to be out of work, a labour force survey has found.
Labour ministry drawing up national employment strategy
The labour ministry is working on drawing up a policy to address unemployment among Caymanians which it says should be ready for a new government to review following next year’s general election.
WORC scrapping JobsCayman portal
The government's Workforce Opportunities and Residency Cayman is replacing its beleaguered Jobs Cayman portal, an online job ad system.
Unemployment hits new low as population surges again
Unemployment in Cayman has fallen to the lowest point in decades as the island's population surged yet again, according to the latest data from the Economics and Statistics Office.
Cayman’s unemployment rate plummets as population passes 80k
Unemployment in the Cayman Islands dipped to a near historic low in the latter half of 2022 as the island's economy rebounded from the Covid lockdown.
Premier: Census shows Cayman needs more careful, managed growth
Population growth numbers, revealed by the final 2021 census results, indicate that Cayman needs to move away from unplanned and unrestrained growth, Premier Wayne Panton said at a press conference on Thursday, 28 July.
Caymanian unemployment rate increased to 8.3% at the end of 2020
The number of unemployed Caymanians increased by 558 to 1,759, resulting in an unemployment rate of 8.3% in the second half of last year.
OECD unemployment declines amid mixed market indicators
Unemployment in industrialised countries continued to decline at the end of 2020 as leading indicators in most advanced economies continued to improve.
The Resh Hour talks Caymanian unemployment
On tonight's show we are joined by Micheal Ebanks Acting Chief Officer Ministry of Employment Border Control and Kyle McLeans WORC, Deputy Director for Business Operations.
Unemployment on track to hit 6.9% by year end
Cayman's unemployment remains on track to hit a projected 6.9% by the end of this year, Premier Alden McLaughlin has said.
COVID-19: At least 34 million jobs lost in Latin America, Caribbean
The UN’s International Labour Organization said at least 34 million jobs have been lost in Latin America and the Caribbean as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
OECD unemployment falls
Unemployment in developed countries remains above pre-COVID 19 levels, but in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries, jobless rates fell on average to...
Inside the ESO’s economic assessment and stimulus plan
The Economics and Statistics Office has this week released its COVID-19 Economic Impact Assessment and Stimulus Plan that is informing government policy on tackling the economic fallout from the pandemic. Finance Minister Roy McTaggart outlined the key findings of the report at the end of May, stating that the economy might contract by 12.2%, with nearly 10,000 jobs lost, including almost 3,000 Caymanian employees.
1,350 sign up as jobseekers
Just over 1,350 jobseekers had registered with government's new employment portal by 1 June, government officials said Friday.
Unemployment rate drops to 2.8%; lowest rate since 2006
Estimates from the Fall 2018 Labour Force Survey show that the unemployment rate has fallen to 2.8%, the lowest rate since the second half of 2006, when it stood at 2.6%. Caymanian unemployment has fallen to 4.6%, which is also the lowest it has been since 2006 when it bottomed out at 3.6%.
EDITORIAL – A clear picture of a thriving economy
The governor's observations about Cayman's workforce were clearly intended to be positive and unifying. They should not have been controversial.
EDITORIAL – Keeping government out of Cayman’s employment business
Attempting to coerce companies into hiring employees based on anything other than their individual merit threatens to stifle or destroy the economic prosperity upon which we all rely and, incidentally, the foundation upon which Cayman’s “economic miracle” was built.
Unemployment rate creeps up during 2017
Cayman’s overall unemployment rate increased nearly a full percentage point between fall 2016 and fall 2017, government statistics released last Thursday revealed.
Premier: Crackdown coming for business staffing plans, job ads
Cayman Islands Premier Alden McLaughlin has promised stricter enforcement against local businesses’ hiring and promotion practices that are designed to skirt immigration rules.
Unemployment answer
Today's editorial cartoon
EDITORIAL – The difference between statistics and the truth
It is said that numbers don’t lie, but they certainly can equivocate. We were reminded of that last week by two stories that appeared in the Compass, one about the George Town Landfill and one about unemployment figures.
Unemployment rate stabilizes at 4.1 percent
Fewer Caymanians were jobless during the first half of this year, according to the government’s Economics and Statistics Office Labour Force Survey for spring 2017.
Government: Pension changes to improve local employment
The Cayman Islands government expects that a combination of greater demand for labor along with changes to private sector pension rules will reduce Caymanian unemployment during 2017/18.
Labor force survey begins on March 5
Interviewers from the Economics and Statistics Office will be visiting households throughout the Cayman Islands over the next month, beginning Sunday, March 5, as part of a labor force survey. The survey seeks to collect data on employed and unemployed people.
Nearly 600 get Christmas cleanup work
About 22 percent fewer people have been registered for the Cayman Islands government’s Christmas cleanup program this holiday season compared to the 2015 cleanup effort.
Job programs aim to get Cayman working
The Employment Ministry highlighted a number of new initiatives, including a partnership between the Further Education Centre and the Public Works Department to offer an apprenticeship to students at the school. An internship scheme has also been started for job-seekers signed up with the National Workforce Development Agency.
55 find work through Ready2Work jobs program
A planned $1.7 million back-to work program for the unemployed has cost less than 5 percent of the amount budgeted after the majority of employers turned down government’s offer to pay salaries for risky new hires. Tasha Ebanks Garcia said the actual spending equated to $700 per person, roughly $80,000 in total.
The ‘quiet catastrophe’ of men choosing not to work
The work rate for adult men has plunged 13 percentage points in a half-century. This “work deficit” of “Great Depression-scale underutilization” of male potential workers is the subject of Nicholas Eberstadt’s new monograph “Men Without Work: America’s Invisible Crisis,” which explores the economic and moral causes and consequences of this.
Door-to-door employment survey to begin
Interviewers with the government’s Economics and Statistics Office are set to begin a new survey on employment in the Cayman Islands on Sunday. ESO workers plan to visit 1,401 randomly selected households across the islands over the next four weeks.
Minister: Unemployment lowest since 2007
The Cayman Islands government reported an overall unemployment rate of 3.9 percent during the spring, according to figures released Wednesday by the government Economics and Statistics Office.
EDITORIAL – One employer’s experience: The challenges of ‘hiring Caymanian’
Friday’s front page featured photos and a story on the 12th anniversary of the landfall of Category 5 Hurricane Ivan. That was the second-most...
Government anticipates rise in unemployment
A recent precipitous drop in the Cayman Islands unemployment rate is not expected to continue this year, according to government’s own estimates.
EDITORIAL – Gov’t slanders Cayman’s professionals
Faced with a set of sobering facts they discovered themselves, Cayman Islands government officials resorted to Plan A: Deflect, spin and blame the media.
Report: Lack of skills, experience barriers to Caymanian employment
A government report on Caymanian unemployment found a lack of literacy and math skills, experience and knowledge were the primary reasons Caymanian applicants were not hired.
Data: Work permits up, unemployment down
A decade’s worth of data from the Immigration Department and the government statistics office examined by the Cayman Compass shows a clear link between the number of foreign workers on the islands and the unemployment rate.
Unemployment rate falls sharply
Cayman’s overall unemployment rate fell from 5.6 percent in spring 2015 to 4.2 percent in fall 2015, the government Office of Economics and Statistics reported Tuesday.
EDITORIAL – The Chamber’s changing of the guard
Let us extend a welcoming hand to new Chamber of Commerce President Paul Pearson, and offer a congratulatory pat on the back to outgoing Chamber President Barry Bodden for a job well done.
Cayman’s ‘underclass’
I was an attendee last week at the excellent Cayman Economic Outlook conference, the theme of which was “inequality.” While not typically one to...
Passport2Success program aims to help fight unemployment
Since Premier Alden McLaughlin called out the “unacceptably high rate” of Caymanian unemployment in his New Year’s message, leaders have been trying to come...
EDITORIAL – Ready2Work: Government’s latest ‘freebie’
We give the government credit for creativity, but we are skeptical that the newly announced “Ready2Work KY” program will succeed in addressing Caymanian unemployment.
Premier...
Cayman’s economic ‘underclass’ topic of conference panel
Panelists at the Cayman Economic Outlook conference Tuesday agreed that there is an “underclass” developing in the territory and that more needs to be...
Government to pay wages in back-to-work project
Government will pay up to the first six months’ salary for new workers taken on by private businesses in a new back-to-work scheme for...
