MINISTERS are going to have to fight to protect Islanders’ jobs as the financial crisis continues, Chief Minister Frank Walker has warned.
He says that it is inevitable that jobs will be lost over the coming year – and that the next Council of Ministers will have to protect Islanders as much as possible. Senator Walker’s warning came as the growing crisis prompted British Chancellor Alistair Darling to announce a £50bn rescue package for UK banks. A further £200bn was made available to provide liquidity to banks and building societies but the move failed to halt the continuing decline of shares when trading began this morning.
With cutbacks likely to affect not only Jersey’s main industry but the Island economy as a whole, Island business leaders and politicians are starting to plan for tough times ahead. Senator Walker, other senior politicians and expert advisers are meeting daily to discuss the impact on Jersey of the world crisis.
Speaking as the latest set of employment figures revealed a 3% rise in the number of jobs in Jersey in the 12 months to June, Senator Walker (pictured) said: ‘Ministers’ jobs for next year and for the foreseeable future are going to be about protecting local people’s jobs. Unemployment will inevitably rise in Jersey and their major task will be to protect local people’s jobs.’
Article posted on 8th October, 2008 - 3.00pm
38 Article Comments
Job loses are inevitable but there is an easy solution. Every job that is lost must be a “J cat”. That way local people are protected and the “unemployed” will move back to mainland UK as they no longer have a job so will not stay as they would not be entitled to Income Support or to take up another job.
Doubt the Politicians have the guts to take such a position and to “upset” the Finance Industry. We would also solve our overcrowding, over-stretched resources and housing issues in one fell swoop.
If any of the people standing for Senator took this stance I’m sure they would get the support of all local people
is this the man who said we have nothing to worry about for the last year….
rs
Walker isn’t concerned about the ordinary island resident who might face the loss of a job, he’s never shown them any concern. The only people he’s interested in being protected are those in the finance industry.
Fair enough Paul, but you know it wont happen. They would rather see locals starve than upset the ‘finance industy’(tax evasion).
Hmmm, very clever - get rid of the J Cats to protect locals jobs? don’t think so! That would really bring an end to Jersey’s finance industry. With few adequately qualified locals running the industry it wouldn’t las 5 minutes. Then all of the non-qualified people who do all the lowly jobs the locals want would not have to leave if you only sacked the j-cats, leaving no jobs for the locals. You need the J cats or you will have nothing.
don’t panic … frank and terry are in charge
Ok so let lose the J cats, and encourage all the immigrant worker to leave as well shall we? Then we can form a queue behind Paul for the jobs we are too “proud” to do, eh!
Paul must definitly be a Jerseyman, and sadly his view, is a large component of the issues that this Island faces as it now slides down St Aubins Hill, off the beach and into the sea.
I pay my taxes for support from the goverment, the last thing I expect is to be victimised because I’m not a local.
We already get a raw deal compared to “locals”.
Ever since the dreaded finance came here in the late 60’s we have heard the same old tripe about how grateful we should be to have these people land on our shores to work in these banks, how it would boost our economy and improve our standard of living, well its been a big con.Most true locals i know were perfectly happy before ,sadly not any more .The ‘english settler class’ have moved in with all their big ideas. Hope it turns out like just before the occupation when they all left.
If it wasn’t for the ‘j’cats that are not needed in the Island (and there are many) the house prices etc would not have gone through the roof - whether we need J’s or not the cost of living for ordinary people is extortionate and as a matter of fact please note Phil, unbelievable etc the Jersey people are not thick!! This Island was doing OK before the finance sector became the be all and end all of everything - with this credit crunch it may hurt their pockets as much as the local person scraping a living! No big bonuses for you guys - dear dear me what are you going to do without your £50,000 + payouts. That porsche or ferrari will have to stay in the showroom. Welcome to the real world. As for the policitians why are we not voting those in at the moment out at the next election!!
I am a Jersey born woman with young family and have always worked hard for a living. I dont appreciate the comment “With few adequately qualified locals running the industry it wouldn’t las 5 minutes.” as I am local and have numerous qualifications including I.T. professional qualifications and am nearing completion of a Business Studies degree. I understand where Paul is coming from but sadly Gary is correct because a large proportion of the Jersey born people who already have (or have the potential to gain) the qualifications to do these now J cat jobs have been pushed off the island by inflated rents and poor living conditions! (We have considered leaving several times but this is my home and I love the island!) I have nothing against J cats but something has to give ! The states need to think long and hard on this one.
Forget J cats, this is not the issue. The States have planned our future around an industry which seems to be collapsing under its own criminal incompetence and greed. There is no Plan B for Jersey as far as I know. So I ask again, what are we going to do once Finance leaves/is driven out/collapses? It is going to happen one day, perhaps not today or tomorrow but sooner than many people would like to acknowledge. And then what? A cat, J cat, cat’s chance in hell - Jersey is in terrible, terrible trouble and our politicians seem to be in denial, or maybe they’re secretly hoping they won’t get elected back in? Or they’re retiring and leaving us to clean up their mess. Thanks guys, great job. Your legacy is absolutely assured but don’t expect any statues in the Royal Square. Meanwhile, we have built offices all over St. Helier and Wimpy homes on every available field. Greed, greed, greed and stupidity.
The recent banking issues in past week has shown a number of flaws for depositors who I understand now are moving their cash to jurisdictions with strong deposit guarantee schemes (like UK and EU member states)
The lansbanki problem may be the catalyst that changes the channel islands bank horizon forever with lower corporation tax receipts, lower deposits placed here, less rent & rates on occupancy of buildings, less local hotel bookings, less money to spend for locals who have lost savings etc etc
we need to coordinate some action with UK on how to stave off these problems or else the islands are going to suffer a big economic downturn
Not sure I agree that J Cats aren’t part of a problem. If we look to the Isle of Man there is a much more rigid selection process for allocation of work permits. I belief a committee actually looks at the vacancies how it’s been advertised, the calibre of the recruits. Unfortunately in Jersey large companies seem to advertise vacancies across their entire business which includes onshore – some don’t even seem to try to recruit locally at all or go straight to the contract market.
Jersey is not doing a good job controlling these companies or even providing the right level of review. The issues as I see them are that If Jersey experience’s a downturn and there are better opportunities elsewhere this mobile work force may be inclined to leave, without local business’s investing in local staff behind them.
Frank Walker isn’t concerned about the ordinary island resident who might face the loss of a job, he’s never shown them any concern. The only people he’s interested in being protected are those in the finance industry.
j cat means essentially employed, therefore these people are needed to do jobs because there are not enough locals who are appropriately qualified for these jobs. Stop blaming them for your woes. It’s the greed of the local people who have driven up the house prices! J Cats can only buy J cat housing! It really depresses me to read some of the idiocy on this site!
Disappointed in JSY…
I read your comments and I’m putting together a scheme that addresses some of the points you make. Can you mail me at jersey.bean@yahoo.com?
Thanks!
So Bergerac, it “really depresses you to read some of the idiocy on this site”. Well guess what? It really depresses many of us to see the cuckoo in the nest that is the finance industry push everything else out. On a local scale its finance people’s greed that has been ruining the island for years. Important yes, all important no.
Re bergerac
J cats effect on Housing.
We have a finite amount of land to build on.
A-J Cat properties are available to local people as well but because of the limited amount of these properties the prices are generally hirer than the A-H. Where a A-J is built it means one less piece of land for a A-H so simple demand economics means not enough houses in the A-H sector so prices go up. There is now a social demand for more properties as generally family sizes are smaller than generations ago and more people are living alone (either not married or divorced) so there is an requirement for more properties even without the population increasing.
So combine all the above and it shows that J cat people DO effect the A-H market
A J cat license is given for a post that cannot be filled locally because of lack of suitable applicants. There is also a requirement for the granting of a license that (where possible) a local person is trained so they can take over the role when the persons 2-5 year license has expired. I believe this is not being done to the level required and more pressure must be put on the institutions to show what they are doing to train local people. But as said above the Politicians are too scared of upsetting the Finance Industry.
Jersey has sold its soul to the Finance Industry and Bruce Labey’s words (above) should be read and acted on
I agree with Paul, comment No. 1. Harsh but true and a must.
I’m sorry but I think you are all missing a crucial thing here… In jersey you only really have two choices for work unless you’re qualified in a specified field - working in retail and working in finance. The finance industry provides more jobs for LOCAL people than any other industry in Jersey!
I’m local, I’ve paid taxes and I work in finance (mainly because I didn’t really know what i wanted to do with my life) - I don’t earn 50,000 a year and I’m afraid to say most people working in finance are on less than £25,000 but i do it because I prefer it to working in retail.
We need J Cat people and we will continue needing them until the majority of jersey locals get off their butts, stop sponging off the state and get qualified to work as a teacher, nurse, care worker etc(or let them work in retail or heaven forbid get good enough grades at school so the finance industry will accept them)
You shouldn’t be blaming people who have moved to jersey to do the jobs the locals are too lazy to do - you should be blaming those teenage mothers who have children to get out of work - or blaming the people claiming they’re depressed (when they clearly have nothing wrong with them as you see them getting drunk off our money every weekend! having a great time) And note I am not talking about the people who genuinly can’t work due to depression or disability - just those that can work but choose not to.
Stop giving flats and benefits to under 18’s who are pregnant - tell them their parents have to fork out the money for childcare
Stop giving bedsits and flats to adults who claim they’re bipolar or skitzophrenic just because they have a bad mood every now and again - depression is a horrible thing to claim you have just to get a free ride
Stop giving houses to couples that have more than 4 children - if you can’t afford to have more than 4 children - don’t have more! Simple!
Re: Paul
Why do you feel that the people who are ‘essentially’ employed to help Jersey’s finance company live in substandard, over priced accommodation? Are they not entitled to the same rights as locals as they pay the same tax? Given that they are being brought over for the benefit of Jersey’s economy?
Re: Marcel
“It really depresses many of us to see the cuckoo in the nest that is the finance industry push everything else out”
What else? Tourism? Farming?.
wake up it’s finance that’s keeping the Island afloat, If that went so would all the lovely restaurants, bars etc as nobody would be able to afford them. Don’t forget there is a whole lot of Jersey people employed by the finance industry too…
There are some who are local, highly qualified, but because they are not working currently, are not let back into the finance industry. The result is a self fulfilling cycle of not enough relevent work experience, means they cannot get a job to get the necessary start. A waste of resources, which all employers seem to deplore, but none will be the first to give these people a chance….
Plenty of apparent room for firms to poach those working however…
Perhaps this needs to change !!!
Bergerac what makes you think many of us can afford to go out to these “lovely restaurants, bars etc ” what planet are you on the same one as Terry le Sueur who thinks you can cloth a child for £150.00 a year. Well let me tell you most of us CANT afford to go out so if they were not there it would not make a jot of a difference ! and yes Farming and Tourism have been pushed out of the nest so to speak.
Bergerac - and don’t forget there are a whole load of other local people who left the Island rather than condemn themselves to a life of soul-destroying drudgery. Yes, the Finance industry is important at the moment but, like all addictions, it distorts both economically and socially. We have to find another more sustainable and more secure basis for our economy, one that regards Jersey as it’s home rather than a handy little anachronism to be exploited until it is no longer viable. We also need to try to convince large sectors of Jersey’s population than the 1980s have ended but that it is safe out there in the real world, in fact it’s a whole lot better than where you are now.
Bergerac-do you really believe there were no restaurants or bars before the finance industry arrived?
Alexa, the restaurants were not in the same class as they are now, of course I know there were some there before finance, come on now try reply with something interesting!
unhappy jerseybean: There are plenty of people who can afford to go to them so why take that away? surely people that can afford things should be allowed to enjoy them !!!
What industries are going to replace finance in your eutopian dreams? Tourism was great when Jersey was as far as most people would dream of travelling, and farming was not pushed out by finance but by global markets which can produce goods cheaper. What exactly do you expect to rush in to replace finance
” The island was doing ok before the finance sector” - maybe so, but that was in the 1960’s and the world is a very different place now. If we had relied on the other industries (Tourism/Farming) to keep Jersey going, we would all be in a very sorry position now - just look to areas in the UK where Tourism used to be the mainstay, they are ghost towns with high levels of poverty and massive unemployment. Farming hasn’t had the best ride recently either!
The attitude that Jersey doesn’t need the finance industry is completely ignorant - there are 13296 people working in the finance industry - only 2% of which are j-cats, which means there are approximately 13000 people working in the industry who are LOCAL!!!!! Exactly what would you suggest they do - most would probably leave the island as there would be no decent well-paid jobs here.
A great number of local businesses have also grown up aorund the finance industry and support it at the moment- that probably accounts for great deal more local people to add to the 13000.
So please stop your ridiculous comments, and accept the industry for what it is - the largest employer of local people on the island which generates the most revenue for the island, and on which the island depends - whether we like it or agree with it!!
Which, in this climate, means it needs protecting by any means necessary!
To all of you crying protect the locals I have several questions for you?
imagine your child is very ill and you rush to the hospital for treatment, sorry all of the j cat doctors have been told to go they reply, mmmmmm oh thats different I hear you say, ok so you want your child to have an education, sorry all the J cat teachers have left too, but we doing a great course in farming if you are interested! The finance industry bring in nearly 70 pence in every pound so if we lose that take 70% off the value of your house etc slash your salaries and oh by the way because we are now importing less (Cos all of the non locals have been asked to leave) food prices have to rise. And for the record I am not in finance but do know what huge benefits the industry brings!
After recent events probably quite a few jobs to go in the retail banks over here.
Nice idea Paul. Problem is, you fail to realise why J cat people are in Jersey - because there is insufficient talent on the island. Fine, send them packing, but then watch as what is left of the economy implodes on the back of the ineptitude of who is left.
It makes me sad to see some of the comments on this article. Yes, it is important to preserve and encourage the local workforce. It is important to encourage our local people to have work, not only in the finance industry but in the fields of employment that they choose to be in.
However, this is not always possible. Not even in the UK. We need to remember that we only have 9 miles by 5 miles of land mass and we cannot have the same diversity of job opportunity that you may find in mainland Britain.
This said, it is also important to remember that in our modern world we should be welcoming to people of any nation. There is work out there if people want it. The problem is that many locals refuse to serve drinks in a bar till 2 in the morning for £6.50 an hour so the work will go to an immigrant worker. This is not their fault. They are just taking a job that is available. Many local people won’t do that work and that is a shame for this island.
Without finance - and the essentially employed that it takes - and without foreign or UK workers taking jobs in both this, the agriculture and hospitality trade Jersey will fall apart. It may have been OK in the past, but previous generations of locals have been grafters. Unfortunatel we have a lazy mentality on the island and that is something that will need to be worked on before we can reduce the number of immigrants coming here to work
bergerac - check your history sir - have a look at photos of 19th / early 20th century St. Helier, one of the most prosperous towns in Britain supporting two huge department stores with a population of what, 30,000? all on the back of farming, fishing, shipping and tourism. It wasn’t finance that built all those huge granite houses but it’s been jolly nice of them to come in and do them up. Thanks, and goodbye. The burning issue is what will we do once finance leaves or reduces? We are going to have to restructure our economy but no-one seems to be discussing how or what with. I for one look forward to the new look Jersey, a smaller, less affluent but hopefully happier and more diverse population - and not as many of those odd people in suits wandering around at lunch time. hope you find that idea interesting.
It should not be assumed that the influx of J-cats has contributed in any significant way to the recent unsustainable rises in house prices (and resultant societal failure that sees young locals completely priced out of the market).
The cause of the ‘bubble’ in Jersey house prices is exactly the same as the cause of the bubble in UK house prices: dangerously lax lending criteria.
At the margins, highly paid J-cats will have some effect on the market but, in reality, these people are not competing with entry level housing for young families.
Instead, anyone ‘priced out’ should remember that the driver for rapid house price growth was cheap and easy credit, nothing more. Note that during the creation of this housing bubble, incomes have not risen by anywhere near the same amount.
Take the same average couple with, say, a joint salary of £30k - historically, that couple would be lent max 3x ish their joint salary (provided they had a 10% deposit). Hence, that average couple are looking (and so are all the other average couples) for housing costing c. £100k. Over the past few years, that same couple have recklessly been lent 5 or 6 times their joint salary (and been told that there’s no need for a deposit). The average couple (and all of the other average couples) were initially very happy about this as they could get a £150k house rather than have to settle on a £100k house.
Unfortunately, this is where supply and demand kicks in (and perhaps you might say that J cat demand makes some impression, although I still think this is still pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things). The effect of making cheap credit available to everyone and anyone is that each couple just ends up ‘bidding up’ the price of property until, pretty quickly, a £100k house sells (as standard) for £150k.
Two things baffle me in all this (given it’s so obvious looking at it in hindsight):
1) Why is the lending position of the past few years considered ‘normal’ when according to all historic precedent it is actually abnormal (in fact, it’s pretty obviously abnormal looking at the state of the banks right now)?
2) Why do people ‘priced-out’ of the market look for scapegoats in the form of J cat holders.
The answer to both problems is obvious - every bubble in history has been followed by an equally impressive crash. Message: sit tight, let (some) of the J-cats leave as the market dries-up… wait for house prices to fall back to normality.
Bruce you do make me laugh…. 2 ‘huge’ department stores…. Finance wont be leaving anytime soon so you don’t have to worry yourself too much about restructuring the economy. thank you and goodbye :0)
Ok, so how many of you beans work as a cleaner, a bar person, in a shop etc? If you do and the J-cats and finance industry goes, who’s going to help pay your wages? I work in tourism and we have had to give at least 2 J cats as no one locally wants to work in torism any more- local or non-local. Blaming J-cats and non quals residents for everything makes me sick, what are you going to do, sell Jersey Royals and rely on toursim- ha ha it makes me laugh. I love this island (as a non-quals) unfortunately some of the locals attitudes stink!
It is interesting to draw a comparison between Jersey (I am a bean) and Western Australia (WA) where I now live. In WA houses used to be cheap and there were very few ‘outsiders’. WA now has a huge mining industry and this has created wealth which intern attracts people. Many ‘locals’ here are now complaining about high house prices, immigration from other states in Australia and abroad and a two tier society (those who work in mining and those who work in other sectors).
My point is - Jersey has embraced the finance industry. Other industries have declined (tourism, farming, fisheries) and people have gravitated to the finance industry. Attempts to add another pillar to hold up the island have all failed. This is due to the fact that Jersey is too slow to capitalise on these opportunities and someone else gets in first.
The house prices have not gone up because of J-Cats, they have gone up because of a higher incomes, the finite amount of space in the island and generous loan structure from the banks (no doubt to keep their staff on by offering reduced rates). The truth is, give two families, competing for one house (one of very few available) more money and watch the price go up.