Earnings are up, the number in work has increased and more companies are employing local people.

These are some of the highlights in the first mid-year report on the Programme for Government, which will be debated at this month’s Tynwald sitting.

The programme, launched in January this year, sets out the government’s strategic aims for the next five years.

Policy and Reform Minister Chris Thomas said there was positive progress on three of the programme’s major aims.

There is an increase of about 400, since April 2016, in the number of people who are economically active, from 42,783 to 43,168 - but that figure is far short of the 45,625 it was in March 2013,

Median earnings after tax and inflation have shown a small increase.

Net income grew by 0.35% in real terms in 2015, from £22,814 to £22,893 but it is still down on the 2011 figure of £23,361.

And there is an increase in the number of registered companies employing people locally and paying ITIP, up from 4,415 in July last year to 4,531 last month.

But other indicators are not so positive.

While 30% of those who responded to the social attitudes survey said government policies were having a positive impact on their lives, more than half said it was having a negative impact.

And the update was published on the same day that it emerged that the Manx economy had gone into recession in 2015-16 - and it is not clear whether growth has yet returned.

The Minister will tell Tynwald that 14 of the 92 actions set out in the Programme for Government have been completed and, of the remainder, three quarters are on target to be completed on time.

Among those marked ’complete’, however, is the implementation of the sea services strategy and policy which might come as a surprise as it is still not clear what the future of our ferry services will be following the rejection of the Steam Packet’s offer to government.

An ambitious legislative timetable is built into the Programme, with nearly 40 Bills planned in the coming two years, including those covering sentencing, competition, communications and data protection.

It also includes legislation to ensure that when the UK exits the European Union, the island will retain the many thousands of pieces of EU legislation on its statute books - necessary for a smooth transition.

Mr Thomas said: ’The Programme is aimed at putting money in people’s pockets and providing public services that make a positive difference to people while reducing government’s financial deficit.’