Jobs on Scilly 'double since 2013'

The number of available jobs per person on the Isles of Scilly has more than doubled since 2013, according to the Office of National Statistics.

Between 2013 and 2014, the estimated job density leapt from 0.86 to 2.1, decreasing slightly to 2.01 in 2015. It is the biggest increase in job density of anywhere in the UK.

Job density is the number of jobs in an area divided by the resident population aged 16-64. A job density of 1.0, for example, would mean that there is one job for every resident aged 16-64.

There were reportedly 1,000 jobs on Scilly each year between 2000 and 2013, jumping to 3,000 in 2014.

The data also shows that wages on the islands are well below the rest of the South West, at 82% of the average. They are even further behind the UK average at 78%. The number of jobs in the UK in 2015 was 34m, a rise of 1.65m from 2013.

Current Vice-Chair of Council Steve Sims said of the figures: "We all know that lots of island residents do more than one job, often three or four, and the 2.1 jobs per person could well be correct. However, I'm not sure how the islands have managed to leap from 0.8 jobs per person in 2013 to rampant over employment in 2014 and 2015. "It’s an interesting data set, but if you look at the whole thing there are huge amounts of data related to the Isles that are missing, so possibly there are estimation errors. The most disturbing figures are the disparity between wages here, the SW and the UK which are in the region of 20% lower. All in all, it makes very interesting reading."

The Labour Market figures are available at https://www.nomisweb.co.uk.