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A "grave" warning has been issued by a business group in Guernsey that the population management law is "damaging" vital industries such as catering, hygiene, retail and transport.
The Confederation of Guernsey Industry says the legislation needs to be "scrapped or radically improved".
The Population Management Law regulates the size and make-up of Guernsey's population and also determines who can live in certain accommodation.
The law was amended in April when the Committee for Home Affairs, which is responsible for both Population Management and Immigration, agreed 'a single joint policy which covers both an Employment Permit and Work Permit'. That is referred to as the 'Employment Permit Policy' and means that the same job roles will be available to all nationalities. HA said this would give clear guidance to both employers and individuals.
However, the CGi said it is infact creating a "skills drain" with local businesses "chronically short of trained and experienced staff".
CGi Chairman Dave Newman said this is now impacting the group's members and employers across Guernsey offering cleaning, catering, care, hospitality, retail, on-island transport and other vital services are suffering as a result.
Pictured: CGi Chairman Dave Newman.
"The Population Management Law and the recent changes made to it by Home Affairs in April are appearing to make the situation worse," he has said.
"The legislation, in many cases, is simply not fit for purpose, it is broken.
"Businesses affected by this are struggling as the staff they employ are classed as unskilled, but they are not. They are absolutely essential to Guernsey’s economy. One CGi member alone has had to halve its business as it is simply unable to keep employees due to the inflexibility of the law, the arbitrary changes constantly being made to it and the inefficiency of the Population Management office in processing applications within a reasonable timeframe.
"Unless the law is scrapped or some flexibility is permitted, our infrastructure and the way of life of the Island is in peril."
Looking at the Job Centre listings at gov.gg there are 157 vacancies listed in total - including 33 in retail, 27 in hotels and hospitality, 18 in care/childcare, 17 in catering, 14 in domestic/cleaning and tens more in other sectors.
Pictured: Vacancies listed at the Job Centre are spread across numerous vacancies.
Mr Newman acknowledged that staff shortages are affecting numerous industries and many other locations, not just Guernsey. However, he said there is something that can be done to help the situation here.
"The CGi accepts some of the issues are beyond the Island’s control however existing population management law is not. Population Management engaged with the CGi and the discussion we had were very productive. As a direct result of this dialogue, the CGi was willing to give the proposed changes some time to ‘bed in’ and hoped it would alleviate an already problematic situation. The CGi asked a number of its members to monitor how these changes were impacting on their businesses.
"It is ironic that P&R wants to raise tax revenues through GST and other measures when this employment law is having the exact opposite effect. One of our member’s tax and social security contributions have plummeted as a direct consequence of the population legislation.
"We believe that the case for action has been amply demonstrated by sectors across the Island so we now urge government to act and address this potentially catastrophic draining of skills from the Guernsey economy."
This is not the first time the CGi has raised concerns over the population management laws with the past Chair saying it was out of date even when it was first introduced.
The industry group was advised then, that following the review of the employment legislation, which allows for recruitment from outside the EU and the removal of the medium- term employment permits, issues would be alleviated, but it says that this has not been the case.
The CGi said it believes the current issues created by Brexit and the housing crisis should also not be used to mask the inefficiencies of the legislation.
The CGi also said it recognises that Population Management is having to work with the constraints of the current law and the difficulty it poses. Mr Newman said the CGi is willing to conduct joint talks with P&R, Home Affairs, which has responsibility for the legislation, Economic Development and industry sector representatives to try and find a way forward together.
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