The Ministry of Human Resources is currently working with the Economic and Statistics Office (ESO) to conduct an occupational wage survey (OWS) and is requesting the public’s help in the process.

Ministry leaders want to ensure all employers are aware of and willing to contribute to the confidential survey, so that all occupations in the Cayman Islands are represented in the final results.

Starting Wednesday, 18 October 2017 all private and public sector employers will be asked to provide data for all persons that they employ.

The OWS will include questions on employee qualifications; nationality status, skills or occupation, compensation and employment characteristics such as the number of hours worked and type of employment.

Results from the OWS will be used to assist in developing a comprehensive employment and compensation database, which can also be used by private and public sector employers in reviewing compensation in their respective industries.

“It is critical that the country generates reliable and internationally-comparable labour market Information, which can be useful for decision-making by government, employers and employees,” the Premier and Minister for Human Resources, Hon. Alden McLaughlin said.

He added, “The comprehensive data collected will help to inform policy and legislation in the Cayman Islands, improve availability of quality labour market information and provide a current look into the compensation landscape for the area and industry. It will also help inform young Caymanians of their options when making career choices.”

Specifically, the results will be used for reviewing employee compensation and benefits in the context of a technical review of the minimum wage law as implemented; establishing the mix of occupations by nationality/status of those employed in the various industries; estimating the cost of labour in the Cayman Islands by occupation, industry and other sub- categories; and analysing employee productivity by industry or sub-industries.

To ensure the confidentiality of the report, Ministry leaders say that several measures will be taken to safeguard the information.

The survey will not identify the employer’s or employee’s names. None of the statistical data collected will be made public, which would result in the identification of an individual or organisation, and the details cannot be disclosed using the Freedom of Information Law (FOI).

The data gathered from the OWS survey will be used exclusively for statistical purposes, and the results will be published in an aggregated form only.

Therefore, no individual employee or employer data will be divulged to the Ministry of Human Resources or any other organisation requesting the OWS data set. For example, compensation data will only be provided by categories such as occupation, industry, nationality status, etc.

“I strongly urge all public and private sector employers to take part in this employment and compensation survey, Mr. McLaughlin concluded.“We are confident that the results will assist decision-makers and human resources professionals to develop competitive policies that attract, motivate and retain the talent needed to support their business strategy.”

The deadline to respond to the survey is 29 December 2017.

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