WITH the size of the government likely to be a key topic of debate come election time, the recently published annual Labour Market report for June 2025 provided some key statistics.
In short, the Island’s public sector has never been bigger, and is now 15% of the total workforce, making it the second biggest single sector in the Jersey economy, by number of jobs.
The data – compiled by Statistics Jersey – shows that public sector jobs increased by 2,120 from June 2019 to June 2025 – a net increase of 27.1% over six years.
The public sector, as of this June, stood at 9,940 jobs, an annual increase of 230 and its highest recorded level. The proportion of jobs in the public sector in June (15.3%) was higher than the June average for the last decade (13.6%).
In the year to June, the public sector – which include, among other roles, parish staff, employees of the States-owned Jersey Development Company, those on zero-hours contract and States Members – increased by 230 jobs (up 2.4%).
This increase was driven by a rise of 280 in the number of Government of Jersey ‘core’ jobs, which cover those on permanent and fixed term employees. The departments with the largest annual increase in core staff were Health and Care Jersey (up 220) and Children, Young People, Education and Skills (up 120).
When it comes to core jobs within the government – synonymous with what we describe as the ‘civil service’ – there was a headcount of 8,800 in June this year, compared to 7,230 in June 2020, a 22% increase over five years.
On a full-time-equivalent basis, which takes account of, for example, two people sharing the same job, there were 8,120 jobs in June compared to 6,420 that month in 2020, a 26% increase in FTE jobs.
Going back even further, the civil service had a headcount of just over 6,000 and around 5,250 FTE jobs in 2000.
On an annual basis, core headcount was 280 higher than in June 2024 (up 3%); over the same period there was an increase of 270 on an FTE basis (up 3%).
Both the government’s core headcount and FTE were both the highest recorded to date, with the previous highs both being recorded in December 2024: 8,730 and 8,030 respectively.
Departmental breakdown
In June, government core jobs were 13.7% of total workforce jobs; this was 0.5 percentage points higher than in June 2024 – the previous highest June proportion.
It was also above the June mean for the last two decades (12.0%). Health and the Children, Young People, Education and Skills Departments were the main sources of job generation in the government.
The growth in Education was due to an increase of teaching assistants and catering staff in schools, and in Health, growth was primarily due to Public Health moving over from the Cabinet Office and a significant increase in employed nurses and midwives.
In the last decade, there was a series of decreases in government core jobs from June 2014 to December 2016 (down 440), followed by a series of increases from December 2016 to June 2025 (up 2,130 over the period).
Over the last five years since June 2020, there was an increase of 1,570 core jobs; during this period, the changes in core government departments of at least 100 jobs were all increases, which were:
+630 jobs in Children, Young People, Education, and Skills
+320 jobs in Health and Care Jersey
+170 jobs in Infrastructure and Environment
+110 jobs in Treasury and Exchequer
The number of government zero-hour jobs has remained between 510 and 720 jobs over the last decade, with 720 for December 2020 and June 2021 being the highest recorded. In June 2025, 6% of public sector jobs were filled by zero-hour contracts.
In June 2025, the total number of jobs in Jersey was 65,320, the highest ever recorded. There were 55,370 jobs in the private sector and 9,940 jobs in the public sector.
This was up by 110 jobs on June last year, although there was an annual decrease in private sector jobs of 130, down 0.2%. In short, the public sector drove up job increases.
The private sector
In the private sector, there were 330 fewer jobs in hospitality (down 5%), 190 fewer jobs in construction and quarrying (down 3%), 140 fewer jobs in wholesale and retail (down 2%) and 60 fewer jobs in information and communication (down 3%).
Three private sector industries recorded notable annual increases in jobs: there were an extra 320 jobs in ‘private education, health and other services’ (up 4%), 130 jobs in financial and legal activities (up 1%) and 80 jobs in agriculture and fishing (up 7%).
This last sector’s 80-job increase was driven by an annual increase of 50 jobs in growing of non-perennial crops, including cannabis.
The number of private sector jobs has risen by 3,930 over the past five years, an 8% increase.
Breaking the Jersey workforce down into sectors, the finance and legal sector is the largest (21% of jobs), followed by the public sector (15%), ‘private education, health and other services’ (14%); wholesale and retail (10%); ‘miscellaneous business activities’ (10%); construction and quarrying (9%); hotels, restaurants and bars (9%); and ‘other sectors’ (20%).
Comparing the private and public sectors, 74% of private sector jobs were full-time compared to 85% for the public sector.
In the private sector, 11% of jobs were zero-hours, which was higher than in the public sector (6%). Similarly in the private sector 14% of jobs were part-time, higher than in the public sector where the proportion was 9%.
When it came to number of private businesses – or ‘undertakings’ in official speak – there were 8,500 that employed staff, 59% of which comprised a single-person.
The total number of undertakings in June was 150 higher than a year earlier. The increase was due to an increase of 150 single-person undertakings.
The number of businesses with two or more people employed has been largely static for the past ten years.
The biggest sector of private businesses was ‘private education, health and other services’ with 1,890 undertakings, followed by 1,860 ‘miscellaneous business activities’, 1,520 firms in ‘construction and quarrying’, 840 in ‘wholesale and retail’, 710 involved in ‘financial and legal activities’, 500 in ‘hotels, bars and restaurants’, 400 in ‘information and communication’, 310 in ‘manufacturing: utilities and waste’, 300 in ‘transport and storage’, and 180 in ‘agriculture and fishing’.
Over the past six years, the ‘private education, health and other services’ sector has grown by 15%, while ‘utilities and waste’ grew by 13%.
The finance industry – when it comes to jobs – has grown by 1% since 2019.
The industries facing the biggest reductions in headcount over that period have been ‘wholesale and retail’ (down 7%), ‘hotels, restaurants and bars’ (down 6%), agriculture and fisheries (down 6%), ‘information and communication’ (down 5%) and manufacturing (down 5%).
In terms of residential status, the number of private sector jobs filled by employees with entitled or entitled for work status was 280 lower in June than a year earlier.
Sectors with notable annual decreases in jobs filled by entitled or entitled for work staff were hotels, restaurants and bars (down 300), construction and quarrying (down 160), and wholesale and retail (down 140). The notable increases in jobs filled by entitled or entitled for work staff were in private education, health and other services (up 270) and financial and legal activities (up 50)
In June, the number of jobs filled by licensed employees in the private sector was 130 higher on an annual basis, driven by increases of 60 jobs in private education, health and other service and 50 jobs in the financial and legal sector.
Financial and legal activities was the sector with the largest number (1,350) of jobs filled by licensed staff and has been consistently since residential status has been recorded since December 2001.
The number of private sector jobs filled by registered employees saw an annual decrease of 1% (down 40).
Notable annual changes were a decrease of 70 registered jobs in ‘construction and quarrying’ and 50 registered jobs in ‘hotels, restaurants and bars’, partially offset by an increase of 80 jobs filled by registered staff in ‘agriculture and fishing’.
‘Agriculture and fishing’ had the highest proportion of jobs filled by registered staff (49%), followed by hotels, restaurants and bars (41%).
Jersey’s biggest revenue-earning industry – finance and legal services – employed 13,900 people in June, 260 fewer than June last year.
The biggest sector is trust administration, with 3,960 jobs, followed by banking (2,480), legal activities (1,860), fund administration (1,800), and accounting and compliance (1,730).
Banking had 3,220 jobs in June 2020, meaning its headcount has shrunk by 23% in the past five years.
Meanwhile, trust administration jobs declined by 6% but fund administration grew from 1,220 jobs to 1,800 – a 47% rise. Legal jobs grew by 12% over the same five-year period.
