The Economics and Statistics Office (ESO) has told The Caymanian Journal (TCJ) that it does not hold the data TCJ sought under the Freedom of Information Act on Caymanians who are not in employment, education or training, a group known as NEET, and Workforce Opportunities and Residency Cayman (WORC) says it holds no such measure either. The ESO's published surveys, to which TCJ's request was directed, show that 61.6% of unemployed Caymanians with previous work experience had been without a job for 12 months or more.

The figure, from the ESO's Fall 2025 Labour Force Survey, is among the highest shares of long-term unemployment among Caymanians recorded in the office's ten-year Labour Market Review, which puts the equivalent proportion at 27.6% in 2017. WORC says it is not an increase on the Fall 2024 survey, which gave 63.2%, and the ESO says its survey cannot break down unemployment lasting beyond 12 months. The published reports carry no NEET measure and no district breakdown of unemployment.

What TCJ asked for

TCJ emailed the request under the Freedom of Information Act (2021 Revision) to the ESO's and WORC's FOI addresses on 17 August and to the Government's central Freedom of Information address on 31 August. It sought, for 2015 to the most recent available date, any existing statistics or records on the number and percentage of Caymanians classified as NEET, broken down where available by age group, gender, educational attainment and district; unemployed Caymanians by duration of unemployment in bands running from less than three months to 36 months or more; the number of Caymanians unemployed for 12 months or more in each year and their breakdown by age, gender and education; Caymanians who want work but fall outside the headline unemployment figure, including discouraged workers and potential labour force participants; and any reports, briefing notes or presentations produced since 2020 on long-term, persistent or structural unemployment among Caymanians. The request sought aggregate statistical information only and asked that, where small sample sizes prevented disclosure, figures be given at the greatest level of aggregation that could lawfully be released.

What the Government said

The reply came on 1 September from the central Freedom of Information address, signed by Aubrey Bodden, Information Rights Coordinator in the Information Rights Unit, which the Cabinet Office lists among its units. It released no records. TCJ has located no reply to the 17 August email from the ESO's or WORC's FOI addresses.

"The Economics and Statistics Office ('ESO') gathers data through survey instruments such as the Labour Force Survey and Census of Population of Housing," the reply said. "Official Statistics are proactively published in accordance with the Statistics Act (2026 Revision) on eso.ky." It added that WORC's Labour Market Demand section "has also been publishing relevant reports since 2021" and invited TCJ to contact either body with any questions. The statute the reply cites is carried on the ESO's own website as the Statistics Law (2016 Revision).

Section 9(d) of the Act provides that a public authority is not required to comply with a request where "the information requested is already in the public domain". Section 7(5) provides that a response "shall state its decision on the application, and where the authority or body decides to refuse or defer access or to extend the period of thirty calendar days, it shall state the reasons therefor, and the options available to an applicant".

What the ESO said

Asked by email on 19 October whether it holds any NEET statistics, published or unpublished, and whether the reply was intended as a refusal under section 9(d), Andrelene Royal, Senior Statistician at the ESO, replied on 20 October: "Please clarify the statements above as the ESO has no record of a response to your request dated 31 August neither do we have the data requested on NEET, etc." Ms Royal attached a copy of an email sent by the ESO's FOI address on 1 September, which concerned a separate TCJ request on resident migration and nationality statistics referred to the ESO by Customs and Border Control.

TCJ wrote to Ms Royal again on 20 October, setting out the dates of the 17 August and 31 August emails and the 1 September reply, and putting the outstanding questions a second time. In a further response the same day, copied to ESO Director Adolphus Laidlow, Ms Royal said the ESO does not hold unemployment duration data beyond 12 months. Question 7.2 of the survey questionnaire asks how long a respondent has been without work and offers answers running from less than one month to "Greater than 12 months", she said, and "the ESO is not able to provide any detailed breakdown of the period exceeding 12 months".

Asked whether it holds any cross-tabulation of long-term unemployed Caymanians by age, sex or educational attainment for any year since 2015, the ESO answered "No". Asked for any report, briefing note or presentation since 2020 on long-term or structural unemployment beyond the Labour Market Review, it said: "Some analyses was done for the Minimum Wage Advisory Committee Report." Asked why the review gives the number of discouraged Caymanian workers in Fall 2025 as 175 in one place and 174 in another, the ESO said the difference "might be due to rounding". It said no Labour Force Survey was conducted in 2021 because of the Population and Housing Census, which "did not collect detailed data on unemployment like the LFS".

What WORC said

The Ministry of Caymanian Employment and Immigration, which comprises WORC and the Department of Labour and Pensions under Michael Myles MP, sent TCJ a written response from WORC on 20 October. It said it was unable to provide a response from the Minister by TCJ's deadline, and none had been received by the time of publication. Announcing the Ministry's hello2HIRED initiative on 27 February 2026, Mr Myles MP said: "hello2HIRED is about creating real opportunities for Caymanians."

WORC said it "does not hold data on registered Caymanians job seekers by duration of unemployment or any measure of Caymanians who are NEET", and that its Labour Market Demand Unit "does not intend to measure or publish" either in future monthly or annual reports because "WORC does not have adequate, quality data on Caymanians for this to be done. This responsibility remains the responsibility of the Economics and Statistics Office through its Labour Force surveys."

On the 61.6% figure, WORC said: "This is not an increase from the previous Labour Force Survey (LFS) Fall report in 2024 in which the figure was at 63.2%(493 persons). Therefore, the rise in share stated in question 1 must be interrogated." Table 5.19 of the Fall 2024 report gives 493 of 781 unemployed Caymanians with previous work, or 63.2%, as without work for 12 months or more.

WORC said 377 job seekers had registered with it between 8 April 2024 and 7 October 2026, of whom 173 had been registered for 12 months or more. "While 173 individuals had been registered for 12 months or more, only 15 had been unemployed for longer than a year," it said, adding that 124 of the 377 "were employed but seeking new opportunities", 30 were recent high school or college graduates, and the total "represents registrations over a 2.5-year period rather than a fixed number of unemployed individuals".

Asked what programmes are directed at Caymanians out of work for a year or more, WORC cited its PATH (Provisional Assistance Towards Hiring) Programme, which since 1 May 2026 has offered unemployed Caymanians short-term help with childcare for children under three, transport to interviews and employment services appointments, and food and rent while applications to the Department of Financial Assistance are processed. "Since the start of the PATH Programme, three (3) Caymanian job seekers have been assisted and of the three (3) assisted two (2) have been placed in employment," it said.

What the published figures show

The Fall 2025 Labour Force Survey, with a reference week of 21 to 27 September 2025, estimated the Caymanian labour force at 25,403 and the number of unemployed Caymanians at 1,045, an unemployment rate of 4.1%. Of the 1,045, 788 had previously held a job, and Table 5.19 of the report shows that 486 of them, or 61.6%, had been without work for 12 months or more. A further 91 had been out of work for six to 12 months, 85 for three to six months, 96 for one to three months and 31 for less than a month. Unemployed Caymanians aged 15 to 24 numbered 490, or 46.9% of the Caymanian total, and accounted for every unemployed person in that age group recorded by the survey. Among unemployed Caymanians, 757, or 72.4%, had a high school education as their highest level of attainment.

The ESO's Labour Market Review 2016-2025 tracks the duration of Caymanian unemployment over the decade. Among unemployed Caymanians who had previously worked, it gives the share out of work for more than 12 months as 4.9% in 2016, 27.6% in 2017, 16.7% in 2018, 32.5% in 2019, 35.4% in 2020, 48.8% in 2022 and 53.2% in 2023, with no figure for 2021.

"Long-term unemployment increased from 367 persons (27.6%) in 2017 to 486 persons (61.6%) in 2025," the review says. "This suggests that short-term unemployment in prior years leads to long-term (more than 12 months) unemployment in the latter years." It describes long-term unemployment as "usually associated with structural changes in the economy; that is, the economy's requirements have moved beyond the skills of the unemployed", and says that "prolonged long-term unemployment may require strategic intervention training to reabsorb into the employed labour market".

The review also addresses the fourth item in TCJ's request. For Fall 2025 it estimates the Caymanian potential labour force, people who want work and meet two of the three conditions for being counted as unemployed, at 425, of whom 403 were available for work but not seeking it, and the number of discouraged Caymanian workers at 175. Together with the 1,045 unemployed, it puts the number of "Caymanians not working but with an interest in working" at 1,645.

What the published figures do not show

No NEET measure is published in either document. Neither report counts young Caymanians who are outside both work and study. No district breakdown of unemployment is published; the survey's district tables cover population and housing. No cross-tabulation of long-term unemployed Caymanians by age, sex or education is published; the duration tables are broken down by sex and by status only.

WORC's Labour Market Demand section publishes annual Labour Market Reports for 2021 to 2024 and monthly job posting reports. Its 2024 report draws on the ESO's survey and records a Caymanian unemployment rate of 4.6%, or 1,048 people, with 390 of the 420 unemployed 15 to 24-year-olds being Caymanian. The report does not give the duration of unemployment or a NEET figure.

The applicant's options

Section 33 of the Act allows an applicant to apply for an internal review of a decision to refuse access or to grant access to only some of the records requested. Section 42 allows a person who "has exhausted the other means of redress provided for under this Act" to apply in writing to the Ombudsman for a decision that a public authority has, among other things, "failed to indicate whether or not it holds a record". The ESO has now stated which of the requested records it does not hold, and TCJ has decided not to pursue the request further.