THE STATE OF OUR ECONOMY
Nearly every country in the world fully recovered from an economic downtown 14 years ago. Jersey never did, despite significant increase in immigration that put pressure on our housing supply.
This has led to Islanders being less able to afford cost of local living and housing increases than residents in the UK.
Political decision-making has led to some local business interests having been supported over others without enough attention having been given to long-term public interest. We must break out of this cycle to be able to invest better in social and environmental improvements and to allow future Islanders to thrive.
Sustainability is important not only in respect of our environment but in respect of our economy. Diversity is another buzzword offered as a way of improving our economy, but we need to be realistic about the number and types of businesses government can sustainably support with our limited land and people resources and taxpayers’ money.
Jersey needs to create a business environment that encourages highly productive businesses with a low impact on our immigration requirements and environment.
Businesses throughout the ages have needed to modernise to stay competitive, usually at their own expense. Sometimes technology itself makes businesses redundant. PriceWaterHouseCoopers predicted 30% of local finance workers losing their jobs in the next fifteen years because of automation and artificial intelligence.
The independent Economic Council’s ‘New Perspectives’ Report’ has looked at the opportunity to improve the economy offered by the creation of new technology. This needs to be contrasted with a business seeking to use technology to stay competitive and paying the cost to do so if that business is successful enough to afford it and to compete globally.
Government needs to accept what has not worked in terms of its efforts to boost our economy, and to avoid future uninformed gambles with public land and money. It needs the knowledge capital necessary to earn a slice of the most productive global industries in the world of technology and data. It needs to stop avoiding the cultural, systemic and personnel changes required to modernise itself in the age of Big Data.
I understand complex issues that require objective thinking. I also respect the value of local knowledge, data, evidence and teamwork in providing satisfactory solutions. My ability in these areas can help put our Island’s economy back on track.