Jobs crisis didn’t happen – it was caused

Good news for the individual, bad for businesses and the longer-term ability of the island to attract the job- and wealth-creators on which the economy and government revenues depend.

Cost, availability, and the skills of staff are critical factors in deciding where to locate and Guernsey scores are at best patchy. Look further ahead and the signs are similarly unhelpful. Questionable school reforms with no focus on excellence of education combined with falling birth-rates do not reassure potential new businesses.

A response to climate change becomes ever more pressing, but even if there was States support to help insulate homes and to reduce CO2 emissions, where are the fitters to carry out the work?

As the Institute of Directors has pointed out, this recruitment crisis has been years in the making and will not be resolved overnight. Indeed, look at government actions over the last two or three electoral cycles and you could justifiably argue it has no interest in doing so.

Business, the economy, productivity, upskilling islanders, and preparing for what was then called the demographic timebomb have all been ignored in favour of what Specsavers’ co-founder Doug Perkins memorably dubbed in 2017 as ‘a gradual but continuous trend towards the socialist left’.

Conspicuous by its absence is a strategy for sustainability, a recognition that Guernsey is not owed a living and that without good, well-paid jobs it has no future. That without excellent connectivity, fares people can afford and an airport that can accommodate the most popular passenger jets, business will simply look elsewhere. Jersey has already benefitted from our runway issues.

For decades, the island has muddled along hoping for the best without looking seriously to the future. All the signs now show that it is perilously close to running out of luck.

Resolving Guernsey’s population and immigration targets has become urgent.