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LABOUR FORCE REPORT PUBLISHED

Local News 07 Jul, 2025 Follow News

Labour market estimates published by the Economic and Statistics Office(ESO) in its Labour Force Survey (LFS) Fall 2024 show the unemployment rate (the proportion of unemployed persons to the total labour force) at 2.4%. The total labour force increased by 0.5% to reach 60,828. The employed labour force was estimated at 59,393, an increase of 1.5% compared to Fall 2023. The number of unemployed persons was estimated at 1,435.

According to the report, the number of employed Caymanians was estimated at 21,487, reflecting a decline of 0.3% compared to Fall 2023. Meanwhile, the number of unemployed Caymanians decreased by 8.3% to 1,048 persons in Fall 2024, resulting in an unemployment rate of 4.6%, lower than the 5.0% in Fall 2023.

The population estimate as of December 2024 shows an increase of 4.8.% above the Fall 2023 figure to reach 88,833 in Fall 2024. The ‘Caymanian’ component of the population rose by 4.0% to 40,633 while the category of  Permanent Resident population reached 8,184 persons compared to 7,690 persons for Fall 2023. The Non-Caymanian population is estimated at 40,016, an increase of 5.4% relative to the estimated population as of Fall 2023.

The population is categorised into three sections by immigration status: Caymanians, Permanent Residents (PR), and Non-Caymanians. Permanent Residents include nonCaymanians married to Caymanians, Permanent Residents with a government contract, Permanent Residents with rights to work (PR-WRW), and Permanent Residents without rights to work.

The population of the Cayman Islands was estimated at 88,833, consisting of 40,633 Caymanians, 8,184 Permanent Residents (including 5,464 WRW), and 40,016 non-Caymanians. Among them, 60,828 individuals comprised the labour force, 59,393 employed and 1,435 unemployed. These findings result in an overall labour force participation rate of 80.8 percent

Further detailed, the Labour Force reports shows persons classified as Caymanian comprising 22,535 or 37 per cent of the workforce, PR-WRW 4,906 or 8.1 per cent and  Non-Caymanian 33,387 or 54.9 per cent.

The top five occupations, accounting for 80.0 percent of the population, are professionals (19.4 per cent), service and sales workers (19.3 per cent), elementary occupations (14.3 per cent), technicians and associate professionals (13.6 per cent), and craft and related trades workers (13.4 per cent).

The report also shows that persons classified as underemployed accounted for 13.3 percent of the employed in Fall 2024. This combines a time-based measure of 7.4 percent (a count of persons working less than 30 hours and willing and able to work more) and a skills-based measure of 6.6 percent (overqualified for their current job and searching for a better job marching their education and experience).

Under the heading of Persons Not In The Workforce, the ESO report detailed that those who were of working age (15 years and older) and not working, not available to work, or did not seek work during the reference week were classified as not being in the labour force.

A total of 14,479 persons were not in the labour force, most of whom were Caymanians (73.1%). Females accounted for 56.6 percent of the persons not in the labour force. Most persons outside the labour force were 65 years and older (34.5%), closely followed by those aged 15 to 24 (31.0%). The proportion of persons not in the labour force varied by educational attainment, ranging from 0.3 percent among individuals with “no education” to 43.2 percent for “high school”.

When asked the reasons for not working, the majority of persons not in the labour force stated that they were “retired/elderly” (37.3%) or “student/in training” (32.8%). These were also the leading reasons reported by sex; however, among non-Caymanians, the top reasons were “student/in training” (43.4%) and “home/family duties” (28.9%).

There were 36,359 active work permits at the end of September 2024, up by 0.8% from 36,079 for the same period in 2023. The construction sector accounted for the largest share, with 6,331 permits (17.4%), followed by the accommodation and food services sector, which had 6,088 permits (16.7%). When combined, these two sectors account for more than one-third of the permits issued during the period.

The number of civil servants employed by the government increased by 4.0% as of the end of September 2024, reaching 4,812, compared to the same period in 2023. Caymanians represented 68.7% (3,307) of the workforce, while non-Caymanians accounted for the remaining 31.3% (1,505).

The matter of Caymanians in the workforce - and the economy - was the dominant issue debated in the 2025 election campaign. This is reflected in the current coalition administration naming itself the National Coalition For Caymanians(NCFC) and the Ministry of Employment re-titled the Ministry for Caymanian Employment.


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