The Cayman Islands Economics and Statistics Office has estimated an unemployment rate of just 3 per cent in the first half of this year as the holiday destination reopened for tourism, the Cayman Compass has reported.

The drop in unemployment for Caymanians alone had fallen from 8.5 per cent to 5.1 per cent in the first six months of 2022.

According to the survey, the significant drop in the unemployed “coincided” with a massive increase in Cayman’s population.

The survey estimated a 10.5 per cent population jump to 78,554 in only six months since a countrywide census.

The non-Caymanian population is believed to have increased by a quarter (25.1 per cent) to 33,373 and the estimated labour force also increased by 11.7 per cent to 54,398.

The Cayman Compass also stated: “The data shows that the unemployment decline is not just the statistical result of the labour force growth.”

The unemployment rate for non-Caymanians fell to just 1.1 per cent from 2.8 per cent, while 4.8 per cent of all permanent residents were unemployed, down from 6.2 per cent at the time of the census.

The article continued: “The number of unemployed Caymanians fell by 725 to 1,140, while the number of unemployed non-Caymanians and permanent residents dropped by 410 to 494.

“Conversely, employed Caymanians were estimated at 21,299, an increase of 5.7 per cent compared to the 2021 census estimate.“

It added: “Based on the survey’s population estimate, Caymanians now make up 48.9 per cent of the population and 41.3 per cent of the labour force, compared with 53.5 per cent and 45.7 per cent, respectively, at the time of the census.”