This Is Guernsey

By Nick Mann

FINANCE bosses are facing a recruitment headache, with hundreds of job vacancies.

It was claimed at the West hustings that 700 positions needed to be filled.

Guernsey International Business Association chairman Steve Le Page (pictured) said that it was almost impossible to know exactly how many vacancies there were within the finance industry in the island.

‘As far as we can tell, figures on this sort of information are not kept by any official body,’ he said. ‘So the figure of 700 appears to be anecdotal. Whether it is accurate we can’t comment. Even if it is accurate, it represents an average of only slightly more than two vacancies per employer.’

He added that the impression he got from discussions with colleagues at different financial institutions was that 700 seemed on the high side.

‘The advertisements carried in the Guernsey Press and the number of vacancies advertised through employment agencies together give a rough idea of the number of different jobs needing filling at any one time. I think we can be confident that it’s probably a three-figure number, but beyond that it’s speculation.’

He added that the number of unfilled posts changed each month.

‘What we can say with certainty is that this is not a new situation,’ he said.

‘Guernsey’s finance industry is a success story and for the last 20 years at least the island has been pretty much at full employment, which is an accurate yardstick of an economy working really well.’