Over 34,000 foreign workers fuel population explosion – Cayman Islands Headline News

(CNS): The latest figures on foreign workers in the Cayman Islands highlight the population explosion that many believe is having a negative impact on the environment, putting a strain on local resources and affecting the cost of living. According to the numbers released to CNS by WORC this week in response to an FOI request, there are currently 34,171 foreign workers in the categories the department counted. The figures, which include around 1,200 people working for the government plus their dependents, revealed that there are more work permit holders and government contractors in Cayman than ever recorded before.

With more than 34,000 overseas workers, the increase of around 10.5% in the population last year is evidently not an isolated bump that could be blamed on the post-COVID recovery but an emerging trend.

Never before has a national census been so out of date so quickly. The final count for the 2021 national survey conducted in October 2021 and published in the summer of 2022 was 71,472. But by the time that number was released, it was already far short of the reality. The 2022 Spring Labour Force survey revealed that the population had already grown to 78,554.

If the current estimates of around two dozen people being added to the count each day are accurate, there will be almost 90,000 people here by the end of the year, and the much-feared headcount of over 100,000 people could be reached before the next general election in 2025, putting further strain on resources and highlighting the failure of successive governments to manage this rapid and unsustainable growth.

Last summer, when the census was published, Premier Wayne Panton said the population growth was “staggering”. Despite indicating a need to manage this, the PACT Government has still not revealed any plan to tackle the growing headcount and all of its implications. Panton has said on a number of occasions that he wants to have an open conversation about the issue and the direction the country should be going and has often said he wants to undertake an exercise like Vision 2008.

“We need to make plans that reflect the wishes of the country,” Panton said last summer. “I don’t know that we can ever say what the [population] should be, but we should be planning and trying to ensure a reasonable level of growth instead of this uncontrolled and unpredictable growth, leaving us behind and trying to catch up in terms of services.”

In his 2023 New Year message, he said he wanted to establish a list of priorities for a sustainable future in Cayman based on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. “As a government, we are committed to make decisions where we focus on fulfilling the needs of current generations without compromising the needs of our future generations,” he said.

With just over two years left in office, time is running out for PACT to roll out any meaningful plans to address the uncontrolled importation of labour and manage population growth or its fallout impacting issues such as the housing crisis, over-development, environmental threats and traffic congestion.