Chief Minister Howard Quayle has again voiced his support for some partial relaxation of the work permit system in areas where recruitment is difficult.

Mr Quayle was commenting in the light of recent Isle of Man jobless figures.

The statistics for April show 462, or 1.1 per cent of the working population, were unemployed, the lowest April figure since 2004.

He said there were definite signs the economy had turned a corner.

’There has been no fall in the under 65 population and net annual immigration is currently around 300.

’But we have to recruit to help safeguard the existing jobs that we have because if businesses perceive it will be difficult to fill vacancies they will be discouraged from coming here,’ he said.

’So some relaxation of the permit system may be in order.

’The cheapest and best option, of course is to employ Isle of Man workers, but if we don’t have people in the Isle of Man capable of filling some vacancies, we need to encourage other people here.’

Currently, as a general rule a work permit will be required by anyone who has not been resident in the island for five years or more. There are already exemptions in certain professions including teachers, nurses and midwives, social workers, police, doctors, dentists and the judiciary, for example.

More recently, certain jobs in the fields of information and communication technology and e-commerce have also been added to the list.

The purpose of the legislation under the Control of Employment Act is to protect the employment opportunities for Isle of Man workers, namely people who were born in the Isle of Man or have a spouse or partner or parent who are island workers, or have lived here for five years.