IB leads quarterly employment income gains
Employment income grew 3.2 per cent in the fourth quarter of last year, with international business pay driving most of the gains.
For the full year, the island's total income from work rose by about $9 million, or 0.26 per cent, to $3.44 billion.
Total employment income during the last three months of the year was $831.3 million, up $25.5 million from the corresponding quarter in 2017.
International business workers took home $259.9 million, or 31.2 per cent of the island's collective paycheque, an increase of $23.3 million, or 9.8 per cent, over a year earlier.
However, for the full year international business income fell by $12.8 million, or 1.1 per cent, to total $1.14 billion.
The construction industry's total employment income rose $2.7 million, or 8.2 per cent, year over year, to $35.6 million. For the full year construction workers took home $9.8 million, or 7.6 per cent, more for a total of $137.7 million.
Other sectors to add generate higher employment income for the year were hotels and restaurants, up 2.8 per cent; banking, insurance and real estate, up 2.2 per cent; and public administration and defence, up 1.8 per cent.
Sector in which employment income fell included transport and communication, whose workers took home $74.5 million last year, down by $3.5 million, or 4.5 per cent from 2017.
Other areas to see slight falls included business services, wholesale and retail, and “all other”.

Need to
Know

2. Please respect the use of this community forum and its users.
3. Any poster that insults, threatens or verbally abuses another member, uses defamatory language, or deliberately disrupts discussions will be banned.
4. Users who violate the Terms of Service or any commenting rules will be banned.
5. Please stay on topic. "Trolling" to incite emotional responses and disrupt conversations will be deleted.
6. To understand further what is and isn't allowed and the actions we may take, please read our Terms of Service