Total employment in the Cayman Islands in 2011 was estimated at 35,267, higher by 0.8 per cent compared to 2010. Caymanian and non-Caymanian employment rose by 1.1 and 0.6 per cent respectively compared to a year ago.

The final results of the Labour Force Survey released by the Economics and Statistics Office, also present an analysis of Cayman’s labour force, unemployment rate, and persons who are not economically active.

With the growth in employment, the estimated number of unemployed edged up by 23 persons only, thus unemployment rate went up only slightly from 6.2 per cent in 2010 to 6.3 per cent in 2011. Caymanian and non-Caymanian unemployment rates were unchanged from at 9.8 per cent and 3.1 per cent, respectively.

The top five occupations in 2011 were service and sales workers (19.4 per cent of total employment), elementary occupation (16.3 per cent), professionals (15.1 per cent), technicians and associate professionals (13.9 per cent) and craft and related trade workers (10.3 per cent).

About 50 per cent of the employed populations were engaged in one of the following industries: wholesale and retail trade (12.0 per cent), activities of households as employers (10.7 per cent), construction (10.6 per cent), financial services (9.7 per cent) and public administration activities (7.8 per cent).

The Labour Force Survey comprises persons 15 years and older residing in the country who are employed or actively seeking work during the reference period. It is also used as the basis for population estimates. The LFS seeks information on respondents’ personal circumstances and their labour market status during a specific reference period, normally a period of one week, immediately prior to the interview.

The LFS is a random sample survey and is conducted yearly. This means that not every household will be surveyed and those selected are done so purely by chance. However, since all households have a chance of selection, the more often the survey is conducted, the higher the chance of repeat selection. It must be stressed that, the ‘sample selection’ is generated by computer and is completely random.

Labour Force Surveys are carried out in many countries around the world. The International Labour Organization has published recommendations concerning the definitions to be used in LFS. The LFS in the Cayman Islands uses internationally agreed concepts and definitions.

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