People in employment by labour position. From left: Permanent and temporary employees and self-employed. (CBS infographic)
SABA/ST. EUSTATIUS--In 2018, 72 per cent of workers between fifteen and 74 years of age in the Caribbean Netherlands were in paid employment. Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba had 11,200, 1,900 and 1,200 employed people, respectively.
The number of employees with a temporary contract was highest in Saba at 22 per cent. Nearly all large sectors in the “Unspoiled Queen” employed relatively many temporary workers, it is stated in the Caribbean Netherlands Labour Force Survey AKO-CN 2018 conducted by the Central Bureau for Statistics (CBS).
More than half of the temporary workers in Saba (59 per cent) and Bonaire (54 per cent) were women in 2018. In Statia, women accounted for less than half at 43 per cent. On all three islands, approximately one-quarter of the temporary employees were younger than 25 years old.
More than half of the temporary workers in Bonaire (54 per cent) and Statia (58 per cent) were born in Aruba, Curaçao or St. Maarten. In Saba, this group stood at 48 per cent.
A relatively large proportion of the temporary workers in Saba and Statia came from Central and South American countries with 36 and 33 per cent, respectively. For Bonaire, this group amounted to 23 per cent.
Compared to Bonaire and Statia, there were relatively many North Americans among the temporary employees in Saba. This is explained by the fact that Saba hosts the Saba University School of Medicine. The number of US employees stands at six percent in Saba and in Bonaire and Statia, one per cent, the CBS stated.
Temporary employees in the sectors with the highest numbers of workers, with (from left) Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba. (CBS infographic)
Statia has a large oil terminal. In 2018, manufacturing was the largest sector on the island. This sector employed relatively many temporary workers as well. Only in the construction sector was this group even slightly higher at 22 per cent, according to the CBS.
Saba has a strong presence of the sectors public administration and education, the CBS said. The percentage of temporary workers in public administration was similar to that in both other islands in the Caribbean Netherlands. In education, the percentage was twice as high (27 per cent) as in Bonaire and Statia. The percentages were also relatively high in health care, construction and trade, at 37, 34 and 27 per cent, respectively.
Public administration and government services are the largest sectors in Bonaire. In 2018, 11 per cent of the people employed in this sector had a temporary contract.
Other relatively large sectors with a proportionately high number of temporary workers are accommodation and food services, and the health care sector. In accommodation and food services, 26 per cent of the workers were in temporary employment, compared to 20 per cent in health care and welfare, the CBS said.
