A new report by IMSEE, the Monaco government’s official statisticians, shows that the number of active private sector employees rose by over 2,000 in 2021 compared with the previous year, marking a return to pre-pandemic levels.
According to the report, the total number of private sector employees in Monaco in 2021 sat at 53,079. This includes all active employees who worked at least one hour during the year and exceeds the 2020 statistics by 2,072 people, only 10 less than in 2019.
Though the number of employees in the private sector bounced back to pre-pandemic levels, it is not the same in all activity sectors. Accommodation and food service paid the biggest price during the pandemic and were still down compared to 2019 levels, for example. This was offset somewhat by a rally in other service sectors that saw gains, some significant, in 2021.
By the end of last year, Monaco had 6,308 private sector employers, 182 more than the previous year, showing a +3% gain. Employers with less than five staff members remained predominant at about 37.1% of all employers. If those who retain domestic staff are included, that figure rises to 76.1%.
Men account for 60.7% of private sector employees, roughly the same as in 2020, and the average age of these employees is 42.7 years of age. Women are slightly younger, with the average being 42.2 years old. The majority of private sector jobs are held by the 35-to-54-year age group, covering 53.7% of the total jobs.
Commuters constitute the bulk of the workforce in Monaco, with 88.6% of private sector jobs held by people who do not live in the Principality. Workers from France are the lion’s share, at 79.8%, with 55.6% of those coming from the Alpes-Maritimes and 23.5% coming from the villages bordering Monaco. Monegasques make up 11.4% and Italians 8.7%.
Women are still the primary employees in public administration, education, health and social activities, representing 71.6% of the total. They are least visible in construction, where there are only 8.5% women. The numbers are fairly evenly split in retail trade, wholesale trade and financial and insurance activities.
Monaco Ocean Week is an event where ocean experts are discussing everything from innovation and scientific research, to ocean health and blue economy development. One participant, the MERI Foundation, highlighted the role that whales play in mitigating climate change and why their conservation should be a top priority.
“People may not know that the oceans are one of the main sources of nature-based solutions to mitigating climate change,” Patricia Morales, CEO of Cortés Solari Philanthropy tells Monaco Life. “In Chile, we are working around what we call ‘marine ecosystem services’, in particular from whales. Do you know that each whale captures around 33 tons of carbon, which is equivalent to 1,500 trees? It is much more efficient to protect whales instead of killing and selling them for food.”
Cortés Solari Philanthropy is part of the Melimoyu Ecosystem Research Institute (MERI) Foundation, a private, non-profit institution that seeks to highlight the importance of ocean conservation due to its valuable “ecosystem services” and its role in mitigating climate change.
During Monaco Ocean Week (MOW), the foundation teamed up with the Scientific Centre of Monaco for a series of panels which brought together scientists, business people, politicians and economists to look at the value of marine ecosystem services and innovation technologies for community environmental awareness raising.
One main area of MERI’s research has been the Melimoyu Elemental Reserve and the conservation of the blue whale, a species which has returned to the Corcovado Gulf after years of absence.
Within eight years, researchers were able to identify that this whale species is capable of capturing enormous amounts of carbon, 1,500 times more than a tree, making it a valuable nature-based solution for climate change mitigation and worthy of increased conservation efforts.
Together with the Chilean Ministry of Environment, the MERI Foundation is now leading the Blue Boat Initiative, which seeks to alert vessels of the presence of whales through early warning systems.
“We are trying to promote the conservation of whales through this initiative,” says Patricia Morales. “It is a national project where we install intelligent buoys on Chilean coasts in order to prevent a collision between ships and whales.”
Through an acoustic system, the buoys send out a signal to the ships alerting them to the presence of whales, thus reducing the risk of collisions with boats, one of the main causes of the dramatic decline of this species.
According to MERI, between 2007 and 2019, it is estimated that more than 1,200 whales died due to collisions with cargo ships or smaller vessels.
“This is why the Blue Boat Initiative seeks to address the problem, taking care of the species and guaranteeing the generation of blue carbon,” says Morales.
Blue carbon refers to C02 that is naturally stored in aquatic ecosystems. The habitat with the largest deposits is the ocean, which absorbs 25% of the atmosphere’s C02 annually. It plays a fundamental role, and therefore, whales play a key role.
Photo of Patricia Morales, CEO of Cortés Solari Philanthropy, by Monaco Life
Morales says the foundation is also economically evaluating the marine ecosystem services of these whales in order to attract investment to the project as well as similar conservation initiatives.
“We have been backed by philanthropy for many years now, but science is not rentable, and we are a bit invisible from the banking side,” says Morales, who is also an economist. “We aim to connect with those that really want to invest in a green solution. We aim to find as many natural solutions as possible, and try to monetise them, but first, we have to evaluate them. So, we identify a technology, a natural solution, then we try to understand it and see how much carbon are we capturing, and then we evaluate this carbon and certify it.”
The Foundation is now starting to work closely with the private banking industry and companies that would like to invest in the initiatives backed by MERI, of which there are about 50.
In October 2021, MERI participated in the Blue Economy Workshop, organised by the CSM and FPA2, which aimed to draft Monaco’s national proposal on nature-based solutions and marine ecosystem services, that was presented at the COP26 in Glasgow.
The next step?
“Each country has its own economic exclusion zone, but then the ocean is no man’s land. Even if you cannot kill whales, there is no marine traffic regulation. What we need is to work together with the International Whale Commission in order to promote traffic regulation, not only for whales but all the marine ecosystems, the main source of nature-based solutions in the mitigation of climate change.”
Riviera airport Terminal 1 set to reopen this weekend
As part of the launch of the summer season, Nice Côte d’Azur airport’s Terminal 1 will be reopening on Sunday 27th March after two years of closure due to the pandemic.
When air travel came to a near standstill in 2020, Nice Côte d’Azur consolidated all flights out of one terminal, Terminal 2, for health and safety, as well as practical, reasons.
Fast forward two years and travel restrictions are being lifted everywhere, opening the door for holidaymakers itching to get away. Nice Côte d’Azur is preparing for this wave of passengers by reopening Terminal 1 to accommodate what they hope will be a busy summer season.
“To symbolise the resumption of traffic to and from Nice Côte d’Azur, Terminal 1 will reopen its doors on Sunday 27th March for the launch of the summer season,” states the airport on its website. “Under the best conditions of comfort and sanitary safety, it will be ready to handle the volume of passengers expected with a flight programme that, to date, is close to what it was before the pandemic.”
The summer season for the airport officially starts 27th March, coinciding with the start of daylight savings time and the longer days that come with it.
As reported previously by Monaco Life, there will be 106 destinations available this year for travellers, with 18 domestic flights and 89 international ones served by 52 airlines. They will connect passengers to 41 countries, 31 in Europe, three in the Maghreb, two in North America and five in the Middle East and Gulf. To compare, the airport offered 121 destinations to 44 countries pre-pandemic.
“Despite the restrictions linked to the geopolitical situation, the strength of the summer programme at Nice Côte d’Azur airport marks a new step towards a return to normality, which is both necessary and important to enable our region to re-establish an indispensable and sustainable economic and cultural activity,” said Franck Goldnadel, Chairman of the Board of Aéroports de la Côte d’Azur.
Future Planet Capital, an international venture capital and impact investor, hascloseda new €20 million Blue Ocean mandate aimed at tackling key issues affecting the world’s oceans.
The mandate, which Barclays Private Bank helped implement, is partnered with the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation and the Monaco Government in the context of the Monaco Blue Initiative (MBI) and in the framework of the Monaco Ocean Week.
The Blue Ocean mandate will be managed by Future Planet Capital’s Ed Phillips, Partner and Head of Origination, and Lyle Pentith, Portfolio Manager, and aims to invest in a portfolio of 10 to 15 high-growth and high-impact companies that are profitably tackling key issues within the Blue Economy.
“I am excited to announce the launch of the Future Planet Blue Ocean mandate and we are delighted to partner with the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, which has a deep commitment to protection of the world’s oceans,” said Douglas Hansen-Luke, Executive Chairman at Future Planet Capital. “This is a critical task if we are to mitigate the increasing challenge the planet faces today including the climate crisis and biodiversity loss. Future Planet Capital was an early mover in the impact investing space and with our track record of challenging global issues we look forward to seeing the impact of the Future Planet Blue Ocean.”
The targeted investment strategy focuses on three areas within the Blue Economy: preventing pollution, preservation of marine environments and ecosystems and sustainable marine productivity. The vehicle will make investments predominantly at the Series A and B stage in companies creating scalable solutions to challenges such as overfishing, biodiversity loss and pollution, in addition to opportunities within clean energy, green protein, shipping and carbon capture.
Future Planet manages over $300M for institutional investors having backed over 180 companies across geographies and stages. Future Planet Capital’s goal is to profitably solve the world’s greatest challenges in climate change, education, health, sustainable growth and security.
Monaco schools offered students, teachers and staff the opportunity to take Covid self-tests, two weeks after mask-wearing was dropped and one week after the end of health pass obligations. Here are the results.
With almost 3,300 people from the educational community participating in the screening campaign, only 47 came back with positive test results. This included 43 students, 30 of whom were residents, and four staff members, two of whom were residents.
The total tests represent just over half the school population, hitting the 55% mark.
The positivity rate based on the tests comes to 1.4%, less than the 1.9% seen when the same screening programme was undertaken in January following the Christmas holiday period.
Those who self-tested positive then had to confirm the results with a follow up PCR test, which partly explains the large number of new positive cases reported by the government on 23rd March.
The total cases in Monaco to date stand at 10,369. At present, there are 14 people in hospital, six of them residents. 272 are being looked after by the Home Monitoring Centre.
The government wants to remind people that residents and employees who wish can benefit from free PCR screening, without medical prescription, at the National Screening Centre located in the Rainier III Auditorium by contacting the COVID-19 Call Centre at 92.05.55.00.
AS Monaco Basketball once again stated their play-off credentials as they beat Euroleague giants Olympiacos (92-72) on Wednesday, moving into the top-eight with three games to go.
Monaco’s unrelenting charge towards the play-off positions has taken an air of inevitably in recent weeks. At times, particularly under former coach Zvezdan Mitrovic, they looked out of their depth, but their latest performance is yet more evidence of their suitability to the top level of European basketball.
The victory isn’t a statement simply because they now occupy a play-off place, because they have won 10 of their last 11, including a six-game streak. It is also because of the calibre of opponent that they are defeating.
Greek giants Olympiacos are three-times winners of the Euroleague and eight-times finalists. They are a mainstay in the division, but that didn’t prevent them from being rolled over by a contemporary challenger in the shape of a dominant, energetic Roca Team.
No-one within the Salle Gaston Medecin was under any allusions as to where this game was won. After a tight first-quarter, AS Monaco produced one of the most dominant quarters of basketball ever witnessed in the Principality (29-9).
There is an uncanny correlation between the performance levels of Mike James (25) and the rest of the team. When he shines, so do the rest of the team. His contribution to the second-quarter routing was sizable, and so was that of Paris Lee (13). Both were livewires throughout the night, with Lee’s playmaking efforts in particular catching the eye (5 assists).
The Roca Team boasted a superior efficiency outside the key throughout the night (52% compared to 27%), exemplified by James’ impressive 71% accuracy from seven attempts.
Heading into the break in cruise control, Monaco simply needed to manage to game in the second-half. Their efforts in the third-quarter grew their lead to 20 points, before a more pedestrian fourth-quarter saw the game end 92-72.
Post-match, Sasa Obradovic reflected on that incredible second-quarter. “The team played in a collective way. To manage to get 29-9 is incredible.” On a more general performance note he added, “The players express their full potential, and give everything for the team.”
Having reached the top-8, the Serbian coach now warns against any complacency before Friday’s match against Baskonia at the Salle Gaston Medecin. “We need to remain focused on the remaining games. Baskonia are a very good team, but I believe in my players.”
Photo: AS Monaco Basketball
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