11 January 2018
Unemployment figures released today (11 January 2018) by the States of Jersey Statistics Unit show that the number of people who were registered as actively seeking work (ASW) fell to the lowest level for over eight years in December 2017.
Unemployment statistics
The overall number of those actively seeking work in December was 950 – the lowest recorded since December 2010, 30 lower than the previous quarter, and 330 lower than December 2016.
Throughout 2017, Social Security’s Back to Work team worked closely with locally-qualified jobseekers and supported more than 1,800 job starts. More than half of these were in the four main sectors of retail, hospitality, construction and finance.
Back to Work also provided support for additional groups of Islanders, including more than 100 parents of nursery-aged children who, in September 2017, became ASW and are receiving Back to Work support to move into part-time work. Extension of this support for people with long-term health conditions, but who have the capacity to work, has also meant more people being registered as ASW and receiving tailored help from Back to Work to progress into work.
Social Security Assistant Minister, Deputy Graham Truscott, said “I’m delighted to see another successful year for Islanders getting back into work, and the latest unemployment figures show just how successful this has been. The Back to Work team have continued their hard work building strong relationships with local businesses and we are particularly grateful to those who took advantage of the help that is available to them through the Back to Work Recruitment service.
“Our paid training incentives, offered through the year, have supported growth, together with specific skills-building workshops, to allow employers to take advantage of new talent. For jobseekers, these incentives are vital opportunities to try something new and to learn new skills or refresh old ones. For many people, this also means becoming less reliant on Income Support and becoming more financially independent.”
Any employer looking to recruit or take advantage of one of the employment incentives for hiring someone who is long-term unemployed should contact the Back to Work Recruitment team on 447411 or email backtowork@gov.je.
gov.je