Average earnings shrunk slightly in real terms compared to 2022 due to inflation, as white-collar jobs continue to be the engine of the Guernsey economy.
The latest rolling census data has provided a snapshot of earnings and the labour market last year.
Average pay in the 12 months up to September 2023 rose to £40,918, but after inflation is considered represents a 0.7% reduction in real terms compared to previous year.
And the year ended with registered unemployment below 0.9% of the total workforce. 81.5% of people aged 16 to 64 were in education or employed.
There was an uptick in those of pension age working compared to the previous two years, rising from 6.6.% to 8.5% of the total working population – 1,141 people.
23% of all jobs - 7,683 roles - were made up in the finance and legal sectors.
The largest number of women working is in the 50 to 54 age category, while for men it’s in the 30 to 34 category.
There was an increase of 3% in the numbers employed with a residence license or permit between 2019 and 2023, following trends in population growth due to new immigration. There was also a 1% decrease in those with permanent residence status.
Financial services and insurance continued to dominate the jobs market, closely followed by States of Guernsey employees including teachers and health staff.
Finance represented 17.4% of total employment at just shy of 5,830 people, with the public sector employing just over 5,700.
Lawyers, accountants and other roles are classed as professional, scientific activities sector. These sectors total 3,314.
There’s been growth in fund administration, while there have been falls in the proportion of people in banking, insurance, law and fiduciary services compared to 2018.
But there’s been growth in accounting, tax, regulatory and compliance roles since then.
The number of positions advertised has fallen since a high just after the Bailiwick exited its second lockdown in 2021, with all sectors bar administration and finance – which represented a third of all job adverts last year - showing a fall.
Manufacturing, construction, retail and wholesale, transport, storage, real estate, education, arts, entertainment, and recreation all shed jobs between September 2022 and 2023, while all other sectors increased or remained the same.
The biggest falls have been in manufacturing which has consistently shrunk by double digits throughout the third quarter of 2022 and 2023.
Construction has the largest share of self-employed people, 25.3% overall.
Private health and care roles had the largest annual growth at 4.4%.
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