The total size of the island's workforce grew again last year, according to the States of Guernsey's bi-annual Economic Overview, which includes indicators that paint a mixed picture of the economy.
The report, produced by Strategy and Policy, brings together core government data to provide an overview of current economic conditions.
Highlights include a stabilisation of conditions in the local housing market through 2017. The increase in properties sold was reflected in nominal price rises.
But while the improving conditions suggest a growth in local confidence, the first quarter of 2018 showed a year-on-year decline in the number of transactions and the real price of properties sold. This may be a temporary setback, but it illustrates that conditions are still fragile.
Migration and workforce
The most recent population statistics, for the year ending June 2017, show a continued net emigration. As a result, the size of the population between compulsory school age and state pension age continues to fall.
Long term, the persistence of low levels of net emigration presents difficult challenges for the island in the context of an ageing population.
An increase in workforce participation rates (the percentage of the adult population in work) has, however, offset this in the short-term. The number of people employed continued to grow, with the total size of the workforce increasing to the end of 2017.
The growing workforce and low unemployment mirrors the situation in the UK. However, like the UK, the increased activity in the workforce has not led to an increase in median earning. Increases in median earnings continue to lag behind price inflation and as a result fell by 0.5 per cent in real terms in 2017.
Business sector analysis
In terms of data relating to specific sectors, there have been some positive signs. While conditions within the finance sector are mixed overall, the insurance subsector had a particularly successful 2016 and indications are that growth in the sector continued in 2017.
Elsewhere in the economy, the professional and business services sector continued its steady expansion, although the rate of employment growth has slowed.
The construction sector appears to be showing some signs of stabilising, with a small increase in total employment in the sector over the year ending December 2017.
• To view the Guernsey Economic Overview click here