One in 10 Jersey jobs are zero hour contracts, survey finds

The number of jobs in Jersey is at a record high of 59,000

One in 10 jobs in Jersey are zero hour contracts, according to the latest labour market survey.

Produced by the States of Jersey statistics unit, the study found the total employment was at a record high.

There are 59,080 jobs in the island, although this includes people working more than one job so does not reflect the number employed.

Of those 6,450 were zero hour contracts, with the number in the private sector up by 470 since 2014.

David Harris, vice chairman of the construction council said zero hour contracts had their use.

He said: "They have their place where you have the need for flexibility to do an amount of work over a short time."

The largest sector in Jersey was financial and legal businesses, employing about 22% of the workforce. This was followed by the public sector with 14%.

Education, health and other services saw the largest increase in jobs, up 380 to 7,160 on the previous year. Second was construction which saw a 300-job increase to 5,250.

Philip Le Claire from the Jersey Construction Council said the building industry was growing and had more to come but there was a problem recruiting.

He said: "Construction is seen as a choice of last resort and for 'kids too thick for finance'. That is wrong, what the industry needs is innovative, creative and exciting people."

As of September there were 1,560 registered as looking for work with a rise of 160 on the previous month blamed on a change to income support.