“BEAUTIFUL Jersey, gem of the sea… ever my heart turns in longing to thee.”
Those familiar with the song, which is performed each year on Liberation Day, will know it is regarded by many as Jersey’s unofficial national anthem, being an ode to the Island’s “many and rare” charms.
However, there is a growing number of people for whom those words now ring hollow, instead serving as a reminder of the place they used to call home.
Many have been forced away by eye-watering living costs and an “outrageous” housing market that – despite now showing signs of cooling – remains out of reach for thousands of would-be homeowners.
Is the exodus really that bad?
The overall population – estimated at around 103,200 – stayed relatively stable last year.
However, the number of people with “entitled” or “entitled to work” status who left the Island outstripped those who came in by 910 in 2022, a similar level to 2021 (940).
This figure has steadily increased since 2017 when it stood at 490.
While Jersey is by no means the only jurisdiction contending with an ageing population, the statistics have also highlighted the Island’s rising old-age dependency ratio.
This is defined as the number of Islanders aged 65 or over divided by those who are of working age (16-to-64-years-old), and has grown from 23.1% in 2012 to 29.0% in 2022.
Economic Development Minister Kirsten Morel (pictured) said: “We need people in Jersey in order to keep the economy going. We know we’ve got this demographic challenge, which is kind of unrolling at the moment but will really be hit hard by 2040.
“So we know we need people in the Island. This is why I want young people to be able to see Jersey as a place where they can live and work.”
However, he added that the “awful decision that the UK made to leave the European Union” had impacted Jersey’s ability to hire from Europe.
“I notice it just in the streets, where I hear fewer languages being spoken than were spoken five or six years ago” he added. “I’ve noticed that people of certain nationalities have left the Island and it’s harder [for them] to get back here.
“On top of that, it’s also an expensive place to live and work, so we need to try to find ways of reducing the cost of living in the Island.”
Nicola Bennett (25) told the JEP that she left Jersey to go to university in Liverpool at the age of 18, but had “sadly never returned”.
She explained: “Ultimately, there are two things that have stopped me coming back. I did my degree in psychology, and a career in this is not very well paid until you have years’ more study under your belt. I simply couldn’t afford to live in Jersey on the wage of jobs I was qualified for, and there was no option for extra study in the Island.”
She continued: “The other reason is housing. This is the big one. I think the cost of buying property in Jersey is absolutely outrageous. I am very lucky that my partner and I have managed to buy our own house in the UK, up north, where we paid £74,000 for a three-bedroom semi-detached. If we were looking for something similar in Jersey, the cost would be ten times that amount. It is simply impossible for first-time buyers to find enough money for a deposit without help from family.”
She added: “I’ve thought many times about coming back to Jersey for all of its beautiful qualities but, ultimately, I don’t have a choice. I would not be able to afford to live or build a life. It saddens me deeply that this is the case and that I can’t return to the place I call home.”
Deputy Morel said he understood that the cost of living in Jersey – and the smaller pool of jobs – was deterring people from moving back to the Island.
“I can imagine that the cost here is making it hard,” he acknowledged. “As a small island, we’ve always had issues around the variety of careers available. That will always be the case in a place like Jersey, purely because of its size – 100,000 people only need so many jobs done. Therefore, we will always lose some people whose careers will ordinarily take place overseas, but I do want people to think that Jersey is an exciting place to live.
“This is why it does link in with the hospitality sector, in the sense of being somewhere which is interesting and gives young people things to do.”
Commenting on the cost of living, he said the Island needed to “find ways of creating greater choice”.
“This is one of the reasons that I’m so focused on getting a southern supply route, because I really strongly believe that we can bring in cheaper goods from Europe than we have from the UK at the moment,” he said. “That would make a difference in everyday shopping.”
He also noted that interest rates “have made it really hard for Islanders to get onto the housing ladder”.
Gerald Voisin (pictured above), the owner of Voisins Department Store, said: “Recruitment is very difficult indeed.
“In our part of the market, we do our best, and when people leave us, it is either to join the States of Jersey or to leave the Island. Last year, following the lockdowns, a lot of people left in particular. Very often, it’s not the cost of living so much as the price of housing.
“My employees say that it’s the cost of living here, and what they mean is that a third or half of their salary is taken up by their accommodation cost.
“This is why employers are really disappointed when the States have the opportunity to approve planning permission for hundreds of units of accommodation to be built and they’re turning it down.”
Illustrating that point, he referenced the recent rejections of potential housing developments at Broad Street and South Hill.
“These [decisions] maintain the high cost of housing, which translates into a higher minimum wage, because the cost of living is expensive, but if only they built more houses or flats, then we would be better off.
“There’s only so much that employers can do. At the end of the day, it’s up to the States of Jersey to approve private-sector housing. There is very little that the private sector can do and it’s just very difficult,” Mr Voisin continued.
Childcare also remained an issue, he said, adding: “People really struggle to find childcare, and when they cannot find it then they either leave the Island or do not return to work.”
Mr Voisin added that even when care was found, the costs were often over £1,000 a month.
Echoing Mr Voisin’s comments about recruitment, Jersey Chamber of Commerce president Adam Budworth said: “The clear challenges of recruitment have been exacerbated for several years by the difficulties in finding appropriate housing and then meeting these costs within any offer that will attract the skills needed.
“It now appears those with entitled status are finding the housing issues, cost of living in the Island, childcare and other contributory factors enough for them to sadly move on.
“The impact further stretches the limitations of recruitment and drives up wage inflation. Any indications of a dropping population does create wider challenges for the Island in the longer term, as all data sets globally indicate the population will have a much larger percentage of those not in work because we are thankfully living longer. At the same time, birth rates in Jersey, at 1.2, are much lower than the replacement rate of 2.1 and one of the lowest in Europe.”
