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WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT BY DEPUTY G.P. SOUTHERN OF ST. HELIER
ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY 14th JULY 2015
Question
Further to the Minister's response to written question 8869 on 23rd June 2015 which states that 82% of the 150 jobs created by inward investment were filled by locally qualified residents, does the Minister accept that this means that 18% (almost one in five) of those jobs was filled by a non-qualified person, constituting a greater proportion than is already present in the workforce?
What measures, if any, will be taken towards ensuring that the 325 target is met in the current year to reduce the number of inward migrants to 325 annually, a target that has been missed in the past 2 years, and if none, why?
Notwithstanding the fact that the Minister does not have access to income tax records, what estimates does the Minister have of the aggregate tax revenues produced by the 1,319 postholders resulting from inward investment he referred to in his previous response?
Answer
Of the 18%, 121 are licensed' positions granted to businesses where the principal or senior Directors relocated with the business as staff essential to the business. The other 117 are registered' staff with nearly half being in the retail sector. Inward investment, by its very nature, is always going to initially necessitate a higher proportion of non-locally qualified people as the principals and wealth creators relocate with the business. The impact of inward investment is real. Each investment brings new jobs or protects existing ones, improves Jersey's position in a highly competitive global marketplace, and contributes to economic growth. It is important to be clear that 82% of the jobs created, 1,081, were for entitled' Islanders.
The Interim Population Policy enables migration which adds the greatest economic and social value, and only where local talent is not available. The Control of Housing and Work Law continues to be applied to support this planning assumption - working increasing closely with the back to work' team following the transfer of the Population Office to the Social Security Department – and the latest population figures are helpful in discharging this task. We have always said, however, that managing net migration is not an exact science, for example, it depends on decisions individuals make as to whether to leave or move to Jersey for all sorts of personal reasons.
As stated in numerous replies to the Deputy , my Department is not privy to tax paid by individual businesses or persons. Inward investment activity, and the associated job creation, generates new tax revenue for Jersey. I do not estimate tax revenues as I have no information upon which to base them. However, Locate Jersey maintains an ongoing relationship with businesses that move to the island and continue to monitor performance, and if requests are made to extend a licence, this is assessed against the business delivering the expected contribution to the Island.