Report: Bermuda Could Shed Up To 2,400 Jobs

August 20, 2013

According to a recent analysis from Profiles of Bermuda, the Bermuda economy could shed as many as 2,400 jobs in 2013 — or 6.8% of the workforce — if current job trends continue.

The Company said, “This would follow on the heels of nearly 2,000 jobs lost in 2012, 5.2% of the workforce. The economy shed nearly 5,000 jobs from its peak of just over 40,000 in 2008, to 2012.

“The current forecasted job losses, if they actually pan out, would indicate that the 5-year recession has not yet run its course and will continue into 2014.

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“The most significant job losses are expected to occur in the Construction Sector where one-quarter of jobs (25.8%), or nearly 600, could be gone by the end of the year. The International Company Sector could lose nearly 500 jobs or 12.1% of its workforce.

“Business Services, which acts as support to the International Sector, could suffer a 10% decline or nearly 400 jobs. Only two of the 16 sectors are expected to show an increase in jobs – Electricity, Gas and Water, up by 3.6% or 14 jobs, and Education, Health and Social Work, up by 1.3% or 50 jobs.”

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Earlier this week the Ministry of Finance released information about the fiscal performance to date; covering revenue, expenditure and the debt.

“Economic data for the first half of this year are consistent with the Ministry of Finance’s view that the current economic malaise will likely persist through 2013,” said the Ministry.

“However, there are signs that the corrective measures outlined in the 2013/14 Budget Statement, as well as various other initiatives, are having a positive effect on jobs and the economy.”

- Charts provided by Profiles of Bermuda

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  1. Cordell Riley Responds To Minister Of Finance | Bernews.com | August 23, 2013
  1. lol says:

    Thought oba was creating 2000 jobs now there taking them away.. lofl what a waist of government

    • Bozey says:

      @lol…..you would keep teachers employed!! Should be ‘waste’….lmao

    • CBA says:

      This is a report, not really news. It’s a prediction. It has yet to happen.

      • CBA says:

        Having said that, we all know the construction industry is quickly coming to a close. If you’re in that industry, start looking at options now! Perhaps tourism?!

  2. lol says:

    Looks like beteween 92 until 2012 it was the most jobs created (plp term) and its getting worse (oba) check 5he facts

    • Zombie Apocalypse says:

      When the PLP took over in 1998, they inherited an economy with 38,000 jobs. At its peak it reached 40,000. In 2012, when the OBA took over, it had declined under the PLP to 35,000 jobs. So it looks like you’re the one who should be checking the facts.

      • inna says:

        sometimes, the facts are overload for some people!

      • Time Shall Tell says:

        Actually Zombie, it was 10 years after taking power that the workforce reached over 40,000 so that’s more then just a case of simple inheritance.

        • Ha says:

          So 10 years 2000 jobs, 200 per year by the PLP, then in 4 years they lost 5000 jobs thats -1,250 per year.

          • Time Shall Tell says:

            Sort of like how in less then a year OBA have manages to loose over 30,000 tourist…..

            • E$ says:

              LOOOL not like the PLP would do any betta! Probably WORSE….ALOT WORSE! Stale a*s product wat u expect

        • Sandy Bottom says:

          Actually Time Shall Tell, Zombie gave the facts. Employment reduced by 3,000 jobs under PLP. And by 5,000 in the last 4 years of PLP government. They left it worse than they inherited it.

          • windwater says:

            “Employment reduced by 3,000 jobs under PLP. And by 5,000 in the last 4 years of PLP government”.

            So what your saying is that government policy under the PLP took away 8,000 jobs?

            Can you please point out which policies did the damage and what years this took place. Please explain…

            • Zombie Apocalypse says:

              That isn’t what he is saying at all.

              When the PLP took office in 1998, they inherited an economy with 38,000 jobs. When they left office in 2012, there were 35,000 jobs. That is a reduction of 3,000 jobs over the period of time the PLP was in power.

              During the last 4 years of PLP government the number of jobs reduced from 40,000 to 35,000. That is a reduction of 5,000 jobs over the last 4 years of PLP government.

              Not exactly numbers to boast about.

              • justsayin says:

                Zombie Apocalypse, do you have something wrong with your reading comprehension skills?

                Please read my response again then respond intelligently.

                “So what your saying is that government policy under the PLP took away 8,000 jobs?

                Can you please point out which policies did the damage and what years this took place”.

                • Zombie Apocalypse says:

                  It’s you who has a problem with comprehension skills. Yesterday my original comment was responding to ‘lol’ who, stupidly, tried to make it appear that the PLP “created” a lot of jobs. My point, which you appear to want to ignore, is that while the PLP were in power, the number of jobs reduced by thousands. Anyway way you look at it, the number reduced. That is a fact.

                  It is you, no-one else, who attempted to introduce discussion about it being ‘government policy under the PLP that took away 8,000 jobs’ (sic). If you want to start that discussion, go ahead. But it’s only you that thinks the number is 8,000, as I’ve tried to explain.

                  It’s interesting. LOL yesterday wanted us to look at the “facts” (as he mistakenly thought they were), to suggest that the PLP “created the most jobs”. But when I point out his ridiculous misunderstanding of the stats (to put it mildly) suddenly the paranoid PLP supporters come out and deny the PLP had anything to do with the number of jobs in the economy.

                • Zombie Apocalypse says:

                  Also, I guess “windwater” and “justsayin” are evidently the same person. How many other names are you using?

                  • justsayin says:

                    “Suddenly the paranoid PLP supporters come out and deny the PLP had anything to do with the number of jobs in the economy”.

                    Explain which policy or better yet explain how the PLP managed to create job loss.

                    Tell us how they did it?? If you can’t tell us then just stop because you don’t know what you are talking about.

                    • Zombie Apocalypse says:

                      Explain to me first exactly what the PLP did to “create” jobs, since that’s what PLP supporters seem to be taking credit for.

                      As for whether I “know what I’m talking about”, justsayin, or windwater, or whatever you’re calling yourself today, can you let me know what it is that I said that you think is inaccurate? Or are you actually full of sh1t?

                    • Actually says:

                      Term limits. Explain how the jobs were created? I will tell you:

                      The public sector grew a lot. Taxpayers money provided many of those jobs. Which many of those jobs are still held. The jobs that were lost were private sector jobs, you know the ones that provide Govt Revenue without being on Govt Payroll.

    • Actually says:

      Most of those were public sector jobs that are now one of the main reasons Bermuda has such crippling public debt. Essentially instead of private sector employment which gives the government revenue we ended up with a bloated civil service that sucks a large portion of the revenue right out. Had they been employed in the private sector there would be more revenue and less expenses and even with the numerous cost over-runs we would be in a better position than we find ourselves in now.

  3. fox_gap_2 says:

    …patiently waiting for the POLITICALNESS to kickin….

    ***KICKS FEET UP, GRABS SOME POPCORN***

  4. H.M.S. Bermuda says:

    Get the Lifeboats ready

  5. campervan says:

    Hmmm, (rubs chin thoughtfully and quietly ships another 50k off the rock)

    The current “Bermuda model” does not work with less than 40,000 jobs.
    We either have to shed civil servants and related pensions by the boat load or start to learn to love auslanders a little more.

    • DarkSideofTheMoon says:

      So your solution to job loss is to have more people lose their jobs? Cold-hearted bastart

      • campervan says:

        No my solution would be to keep the civil servants and “grow” our way out of debt and unemployment by allowing LTR’s to gain citizenship (after a qualifying period) and open businesses.
        I’d take the “lean to love Auslanders” route:

        • DarkSideofTheMoon says:

          Thats an interesting idea, hmm… Not sure how much I like selling Bermudian status, but I do believe that it can be beneficial in some cases…

      • Sandy Bottom says:

        *losses

        *b**tard

  6. Onion says:

    So presumably if Cordell Riley is wrong again then he’ll stop putting himself forward as an authority… or perhaps Bernews will stop taking him seriously.

    • inna says:

      well this is it, this shedding of an additional 2400 jobs is based upon past trends, which is not always indicative future trends, but at the end of the day, who the hell knows?!

    • E$ says:

      has he eva been taken seriously?!

  7. Ride says:

    “However, there are signs that the corrective measures outlined in the 2013/14 Budget Statement, as well as various other initiatives, are having a positive effect on jobs and the economy.”

    Bernews, may share these signs from the report and their relationship to the corrective measures of the 2013/14 Budget Statement?

    Ride

  8. Cavello Bay says:

    PLP done screwed Bermuda all round and people still defend them! This is the question to the plp faithful What if the Oba or UBP done this to us!? I can only imagine the words that will come out of there mouths! Put that into prospective!

    • inna says:

      *perspective

    • DarkSideofTheMoon says:

      *their

    • Tramsparency for Real!! says:

      As I predicted OBAubp will not create 2000 jobs as promised pre-election but rather there will be up to 2000 job losses. Well OBAubp you said you will do this or that..but what we have here is a bad situation that you fail to be honest with the people merely to gain their votes. How will the OBAubp spin this now?

      • media says:

        You’re about 4 years too early in saying that you are right in your prediction. Try and be a little patient. Every one of us needs the OBA to be succeed in helping to rev up the economy and create jobs, otherwise Bermuda’s future could be extremely bleak.

      • Actually says:

        Lets put a bet on the net gain of jobs. I bet the net gain will be larger than the net gain under PLP’s last term.

        PLP’s last term start 40,213 End 35,443 Difference -4,773

        So in 2017 if there are less than 30,670 jobs held then you win if there are more I win. You also have the growing median age of Bermuda on your side because there less people of working age.

        Trivia question: PLP inherited a 0% unemployment rate, what % unemployment did they leave it with.

  9. very interesting statistics but what is more interesting is that money and time was wasted on something we already know and many have been saying for the past couple of years.

    maybe someone should suggest a direct hook up to the house of assembly and the senate, I think all blogs from bernews should be forwarded to our kindergarten classes at the house of assembly and the senate and then if that proves viable we would patch them in to the talk shows.

    And just how much did this report cost and I don’t care if the tax payers paid for it or a private company, the point is, it is not new information and we have been screaming at this government and the previous administration along the same thing, interesting enough what are they going to do going forward to help displaced families and people that can’t survive in this country.

    We don’t even have a decent homeless shelter to help take up the burden as it arises,should have listen to the Hon. Dale Butler when he said do it now but that damn rat infested place still exist under the same condition and at the rate this country is going you will need multiple shelters,East,West and Central, man and women and then for families, bunch of bright idiots,that will blame folk for being homeless, when it is business people and politicians that ran this damn country in the ground, sorry excuse for educated people.

    • Raymond Ray says:

      Duane it’s true,”what a waste of dollars” :-( Now, as far as the Island lacking in a decent homeless shelters its beyond pathetic…( and yes, Mr. Dale Butler mentioned it years ago but no-one listen to him either)I can’t understand why is it that we/Bermudas Govts are always wasting cash that is in need elsewhere? i.e. The prisons are a luxury in comparison to what many decent families are facing with having to choose between paying a bill or buying food and that is wrong. Why mustn’t these individuals getting free food, medications shelter etc. in the prisons paying us back daily and not permitted to lay in a cell or some other confines all day talking crap and doing absolutely nothing but burdening the Taxpayers?

      • blessings says:

        Well I for one would agree to the prisoners getting two meals a day, that’s sufficient!!!
        The report on weak customs collections, why is that? Reverse again to 25%

  10. Curious says:

    So using 35 data points (annual data) to predict the future…. sounds good.
    Mr. Riley, what is the associated error with these predictions? All statistics have an error margin, so what level of confidence have you used for these bold, fearless predictions

  11. Cavello Bay says:

    @inna and Darkside of the moon i understand that i spelled things wrong and so have u! But no need to argue u caught my drift! But i don’t bother to put them out cuz i understand what u are trying to say! Maybe its cuz the truth hurts!?

  12. E$ says:

    So much smoke comin out dis guys a$$ look like a California forest fire!

  13. Y-Gurl says:

    Is the post office and “works” and engineering on the list?

  14. FYI says:

    HELLLLP!!!!!

  15. Ghetto says:

    Abandon ship!

  16. swing voter says:

    I’m done ….. glad my daughter’s grown….anybody want a condo?

  17. bermudian says:

    The way i see it no party any better then the other both have pros and cons.

  18. pilot says:

    OBA are concentrating on the wrong things! Friends & Family!

  19. Future says:

    Growth in health, social work – no coincidence.

  20. Rhonda Neil says:

    didn’t the OBA say, ending term limits had stopped the bleeding…

    so what picked the sore…. could it be their outrageous spending…

    UBP renamed OBA aka GOP…. only talk conservatism…..

    • jt says:

      Spending down and revenue up vs. PLP so far Rhonda. Fact.

  21. Alvin Williams says:

    well there is no way out of this for the Anti-Bermudian one term OBA government. Thier solution lower the living standards of Bermuda. reduce the spending power of six thousand government workers and thier families. In reaction to two thousand plus Bermudians out of work; bring in more migrant workers. Sell off Bermudian land and housing to foreigners and thereby steal the future of our children. Open the gates wider England; the OBA government is pushing it’s own people in your direction.

    • Moojun says:

      Mr. Williams, please could you explain why a 60,000 headcount population of Bermuda was adequately served by 3,000 civil servants in 2003 and now, just 10 years later, that same 60,000 headcount requires service by 6,000 civil servants? please show me, as a taxpayer, where having twice as many people on my payroll has benefitted me?

      And by the way, just for comparison sake, the Isle of Man has a 95,000 headcount population and yet is currently served by just 2,500 civil servants. Incidentally, I would love to know where Jersey and Guernsey come in on this like-for-like comparison, but they don’t seem to publish their civil service numbers, if anyone knows please can you weigh in?

  22. Media says:

    Well considering there are only 4 months left in 2013 Cordell would seem to have been. Little off with his prediction. Unless we are going to see 2000 jobs go in the in the next 4 months. Maybe his numbers were based on the PLP still being in power, in which case he would probably be about right. Probably another couple hundred will be lost by the end of 2013 realistically.

    The OBA are doing what they can to stimulate what has been a depressed island. Give them a chance, the alternative is something none of us want.

    • Zombie Apocalypse says:

      if we don’t see 2,400 lost by the end of the year we will know that Cordell Riley is wrong.

      We don’t have to wait that long, actually. I think anyone can see that his forecast is ridiculous.

  23. Alvin Williams says:

    MOOYUN’ That six thousand government workers and thier families spend thier money right here in the Bermuda economy. It does not fly through the doors of the money shops to arrive at foreign destinations where the governments of thier nationals have no hesitation in taxing what comes in from overseas. The big lie has been told over and over again. It is not the foreign; expat; or migrant worker that makes up the back bone of the Bermudian economy; it is the Bermudian that is the back bone of this economy; just like nationals of other jurisdictions form the back bone of thier economies. You tell me what impact on the Bermudian economy will a policy of laying off Bermudian workers and the down grading of Bermuda’s standard of living; have on that economy?

    • Zombie Apocalypse says:

      Interesting. You easily understand that Bermudian employees spend money in the local economy, and you understand that is good for us. Yet you have a lot of trouble understanding that nonBermudian employees spend money in the local economy, which is also good for us.

  24. Verbal Kint says:

    What kind of job losses did Mr. Riley predict in the last couple of years of PLP rule? Or did he publish job loss predictions?

  25. Yvon Tripper says:

    Job forecasts are just guesses. They give out Nobel Prizes for inventing economic forecast models, but none of those Nobel Prize-winning forecasters become rich from predicting the stock market.

    It’s like trying to forecast whether it will be a rainy day 6 months from now — there are too many things that can change between now and then for you to predict properly.

    Just give us the actual numbers at the end of the year.

  26. Mr. Riley is a long term member of the PLP. This is not an independent report. He is not taking into account the growth from the many new Int’l companies setting up here, those growing here, improved rental & sales housing markets, $70M investment in Hamilton Princess, Ariel Sands development, etc.. He is a pessimist and wants the OBA to fail so we can return to the “glory days of the PL…..”

  27. God 1st says:

    @ Sanity Clause

    40 people have lost their jobs at pink beach see. I suggest you do some research and broaden your understanding of knowledge.

    • media says:

      Ah, but what you forgot to say was that Pink Beach will reopen in a year hiring up to 215 jobs.

  28. God 1st says:

    add 2 more to that total

  29. God 1st says:

    @ media

    Job losses have taken place and that is a fact. The hiring of 215 people have not taken place,so you are left with the facts….. 42 job losses. Their is no denying reality here and now.

    Have a productive day media.

    peace

    • media says:

      I suppose you will also choose to ignore the construction jobs created to renovate the Pink Beach property over the next year. Blinkered.

    • Zombie Apocalypse says:

      You’re not willing to accept the 215 jobs coming next year once Pink Beach has been renovated but you’re willing to accept Cordell Riley’s ridiculous guessed assertion that 2,400 jobs will be lost by the end of the year.

  30. Come Correct says:

    @ Zombie, you’re trying to give fact to someone who clearly either doesn’t want to see it or wants others to believe their misrepresentation. Someone, not unlike Betty or Laverene, who would stoop so low and who believes by using different alias’s they can create the illusion that more people share their ridiculous opinion but yet can’t even keep up with their own lies. I’d say its pointless, but then again if no one said anything they might actually be able to cause some (more) real damage. They also don’t seem to grasp the concept of the delay in which policies and change need in order to take effect. If the election was last month, to them all these job losses are because of the oba because they’re in power, definitely not the aftermath of the reign of terror. If they can’t honestly see that they’re either willfully blind or outright f@ckin stupid and all I have is a high school leaving certificate….F@ck it, carry on.

  31. god1st says:

    @ Come Correct

    You are living in denial land. Wake up and accept the truth.

    • Come Correct says:

      That’s all? Back up what you say. Everything I said is clear as day in black text on a white background. Did justsayin use another alias? Yea, yea they did. You don’t actually think I take anything you say seriously do you? Your a joke, god1st who doesn’t believe in god. Denial land lol that sounds familiar, go have a drink with Betty and the rest of her personalities. Ain’t nobody got time for you.

  32. god1st says:

    @ Come Correct

    You do.

  33. god1st says:

    @ come correct

    I am a GOD

  34. god1st says:

    @ come correct

    Where are the 215 jobs that you and the O.B.A are talking about.

    • Come Correct says:

      Show me where I said that. The only reason I voted oba was to pick the lesser of two evils and it was the only logical thing to do to get your party out. The only team I support is Manchester United, sure as hell not a political party. See, the difference between you and I is that you refer to Bean as your leader, as for me, whoever is in government at the time works for me and the rest of the people of this island. The plp did so much damage towards the end of their 14 years because people like you allowed them to forget that.