Upcoming Unemployment Registration Drive
This afternoon [June 16] Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Kim Wilson spoke about the upcoming registration drive, which seeks to gather information from people who are presently unemployed. The drive will run from Tuesday, June 21 through Friday, July 1.
“Our goal is to register every unemployed resident in Bermuda. This is very easy process and only takes a few minutes. It is critical that all unemployed persons participate,” said the Minister.
Minister Wilson said the official unemployment rate in Bermuda is 4.5%, which is in accordance with the 2009 Labour Force survey. The most recent Labour Force Survey was conducted as a part of the 2010 Census, however this information will not be available until later this year.
Noting that “over the past several months there has been ongoing speculation with regard to the number of unemployed Bermudians,” Minister Wilson said the information gathered in the Drive will “assist with the further development of training, retraining and job placement programmes.”
There will be two ways for unemployed persons to register; online at www.gov.bm or in person at one of the temporarily registration venues which will be set up at various locations. The venues, date and time are below:
- June 21 – St. George’s Town Hall 10.00 a.m. – 2.00 p.m.
- June 21 – St. David’s Cricket Club 4.00 p.m. – 8.00 p.m.
- June 22 – Harrington Workmen’s Club 4.00 p.m. – 8.00 p.m.
- June 23 – Devonshire Recreation Club 4.00 p.m. – 8.00 p.m.
- June 24 – Cathedral Hall 10.00 a.m. – 3.00 p.m.
- June 27 – Bailey’s Bay Cricket Club 4.00 p.m. – 8.00 p.m.
- June 28 – Warwick Workmen’s Club 4.00 p.m. – 8.00 p.m.
- June 29 – Somerset Cricket Club 4.00 p.m. – 8.00 p.m.
- June 30 – Heron Bay Market Place 10.00 a.m. – 4.00 p.m.
- July 1 – Cathedral Hall 10.00 a.m. – 3.00 p.m.
Minister Wilson’s full statement follows below:
Good afternoon and thank you for joining me.
Ladies and gentlemen, the public will be aware that the official unemployment rate in Bermuda is 4.5 percent. This data is in accordance with the 2009 Labour Force survey that was conducted in February of that year.
Over the past several months there has been ongoing speculation with regard to the number of unemployed Bermudians.
To this end, different organisations, inclusive of the media, have opined and published various unemployment estimates.
The most recent Labour Force Survey was conducted as a part of the 2010 Census, however this information will not be available until later this year.
Several months ago I committed to explore various government channels to identify a reliable tool that would provide up-to-date unemployment statistics to enable the Government and private sector stakeholders to better plan, manage an address the needs of the unemployed segment of Bermuda.
The information gathered will assist with the further development of training, retraining and job placement programmes to better service the needs of the unemployed.
We recognise that today’s unemployed segment crosses all sectors and all skill levels.
From the former labourer in the construction field to the former senior executive in international business.
From persons with a high school diploma to persons with various technical and professional certifications. From the inexperienced to the well seasoned.We can only effectively address the needs of all of these groups if we know who you are and so today, I am appealing to all unemployed Bermudians to participate in the official Unemployment Registration Drive 2011.
The Unemployment Registration Drive will run from Tuesday, June 21 through Friday, July 1.
There will be two ways for unemployed persons to register.
Either Online at www.gov.bm or at an Unemployment Registration Station at a location in your parish.
The online registration is fast, convenient and hassle-free.
Starting Tuesday, June 21st, simply log on to gov.bm and select the Unemployment Registration icon.The survey will take no more than 5 minutes to complete.
It is vitally important that those completing the on-line form complete all of the fields. We need the data so that we can develop the appropriate programmes.
For persons who do not have access to a computer or the internet, a team of government representatives will set-up an unemployment registration station in a different location each day.
On the first day of the Unemployment Registration Drive, which again commences on Tuesday, June 21, the team will be in the St. George’s Town Hall from 10.00 a.m. to 2.00 p.m.
And later that day the registration team will move to the St. David’s Cricket Club to register unemployed persons from 4.00 p.m. to 8.00 p.m.
The full schedule will see the team working their way to locations throughout the island, making unemployment registration easy and convenient for all.
The full list of locations will be published on the government website as well as made available to the public in a series of advertisements.
Staff will be on hand at each location to assist persons with the registration process. Our goal is to register every unemployed resident in Bermuda.
This is very easy process and only takes a few minutes. It is critical that all unemployed persons participate. As an important note, I want to assure the public and registrants that we are sensitive to the issue of those who are jobless and the challenges they may be facing. In order to better assist, we must collect the necessary data.
I can assure that the information shared will be treated in confidence. Finally, I’ve said on many occasions that we cannot address this problem alone. We need the partnership of all if we are to get residents back to work.
In this regard, I wish to extend my sincerest thanks to all the social clubs and other entities that have partnered with us to provide facilities to host the Unemployment Registration Drive stations.
I cannot stress enough, the importance of this initiative – please plan to register if you are an unemployed Bermudian, weather you are seeking employment or not.
Thank you.
First we read that vehicles are sent out on the roads with the word “Goverment”, now press releases are sent out referring to the “weather”. Any chance Government could employ people who understand how to use the correct words?
Tourism Board need to sign up!!!!!
I have applied for over 300 job to date in Bermuda 2009-2011 and I have AS.c and BS
in Engineering and Construction Management, and am working on my Master’s now. I can
tell you that as soon as they know you are Bermudian its over! you will not get the
job. All the management are E-pat’s, I am working in the Mid-east at this time and
would love to come home, I have registered BDM Gov and not one thing this has become
a Joke! But I can tell you I will be HOME soon and I will SHAKE THINGS UP. This
will stop soon you all had your day.
See ya
Do us all a favour and stay where you are.
There must be something wrong with you that you degrees cannot hide. I wonder…..
Name and shame the companies who are not hiring Bermudians. I have a few I’ve documented (yes, immigration has copies already)and would like to expose. Whats going on with those condos on South Shore? When a Bermudian applies to a company on that site they don’t hear back and a permit gets renewed…
Lots of jobs in the paper but very few for Bermudians. Keep sending permit workers back until these companies get the picture and hire us.
This is a great idea .and it should work but people must come out and partecipate, and i feel strongly that another way of making this unemployment work even better is for the Government to come up with the minumum wage across the board no less then 20.00 per hour this is 2011 and it is time that we put that in place no one should be out there no matter what they are doing for less then 20.00 an hour ..
20 bucks an hour across the board for minimum wage. What a joker you are.
Would you like some tea and biscuits too while you work? Better yet just don’t show up to work and have someone else do your work and just mail you a check – M’kay?
People aren’t going to pay people with zero skill & experience 20 bucks an hour. High school kids should get 20 bucks an hour for knowing and doing nothing?
FHULE.
Wake up and smell reality.
” The most recent Labour Force Survey was conducted as a part of the 2010 Census, however this information will not be available until later this year.”
This sounds like another waste of time and money. If they can’t pull that information from the Census which took long enough, then do they seriously think that this one will be any more organized and accurate ? This is just more spin…more talk.
What do they possibly mean by needing this information to develop ” appropriate programs”? If they don’t know what is going on in this country by now then what good is a stupid head count?
Go into the Government schools and see the abysmal standards and you will know where the deficit in marketable skills originates. This is all a day late and a dollar short.
And don’t ask where the money went.
Good idea.. I figure the actual rate is closer to 8%
Can’t we figure it out, with the numbers we already collect? Shouldn’t we know how many jobs are out there based on payroll tax, how hard can it be to maintain a database about deaths and births, when a bermudian is born aren’t they added to the registar? With the birthdays of everyone you know how old they are and you know the school leaving age is 18, If some one is hired thier name is added to the payroll of the company, the manditory pension plan, surely these numbers are tracked and can be compiled, our population is only 70,000 it cann’t be that hard.
They already have the people who signed up at the Hospitality job fair and the other job fairs held, plus people who were already signed up with Labour and Training. When I took a documented issue with an employer not hiring a Bermudian and instead renewing a permit to Immigration the problem is now passed from Immigration, who said it is not their job, to Labour and Training where even less is done. How many times and places do I need to register that I am a skilled and experienced local out of work and am being passed over for permits already?
@Home not mind If you have something going on anywhere else don’t come back here! The terrorists they brought from Guantanamo Bay in can get jobs/housing easier than locals! Emigrate to Canada and then apply for work here and don’t tell them you are Bermudian, sad but so true.
Wanting work and wanting TO work are two different things. Many of us Bermudians are lazy, unreliable, and need to be spoonfed, and just want to go thru the motions just to get a paycheck. Companies dont want that. If you want to have job security, you need to have initiatve and show that you want to be a part of the ‘team’, even if you are not the person earning $300k a year plus housing and living benefits… You can setup all the unemployment registers you want. This entitlement mentality needs to change first. FULLSTOP.
I am one of the unemployed, and I am not LAZY, I have applied for so many jobs and they were not all in the field. I even have applied for work as a domestic and was really shocked at what was expected of me i.e. clean windows, that was fine, clean bathrooms,,,, that was ok also, then was asked to cook,,, not a problem,, then look after three toddlers…on occassions…mmm ok, then it was walk the dogs, then would you mind babysitting a couple of evenings a week. All this for less than $25 an hour, and nothing extra for the evening work.
I am not LAZY, but you will not take advantage of me either. I am not afraid of hard work, but don’t make me a slave just because you know that I need a JOB.
I absolutely agree that no one should be taken advantage of because of the current economic environment, and I would take the same position as you in your scenario. But I have seen first hand time and time again the work ethic that many (not all) Bermudians display.
As a Bermudian, and as someone who has managed Bermudians, its embarrasing, and I completely understand the position that management of some exempt companies take regarding it. I hear expats making comment regarding bad work ethic all the time, and they are correct. If they try explaining to folks, they are looked at like the big bad bogeyman foreiger.
A minimum wage is exactly what it says MINIMUM. To have a minimum wage of $20 per hour is ridiculous and could only be suggested by someone who never graduated high school and cannot do simple maths.
The minimum wage in the USA is $7.35. Given that most things tend to cost about 50% more here, a minimum wage of perhaps $11 might be appropriate.
Suggesting a minimum wage of almost twice what it should be demonstrates a total lack of understanding of what the word MINIMUM means. Minimum is not average, it is minimum. It means you cannot under any circumstances pay anybody less than that amount.
Shoot me down all you want – you will just further demonstrate your ignorance on the subject.
Help! – did I miss something? I didn’t hear it but there is a bona fide actionable PLAN around the unemployed headcount right? And this isn’t equivalent to rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic? For gawds sake, stop all this motion and let us make some progress, please. So we get a list of unemployeds – now what?????????????????
one ting i have been seeking employment for the longest and attended mr buttlers sing up for jobs bull crap and still havent seen a dame thing! and what makes you thing tis will work! bermuda is faling deeply…we need more than “this”….one day bermuda will be literally just nothing i dont care how many buildings ou want to build! no! isnt working still..so tell me were to sing up again!!! this island is full of sh**! because everyday i see a new NON bermudian entering a job! and more bermudians driving around all day doing nothing while the police treat us”young black educated males’ like crap! this whole bs government is crap! including these fake ass police!
so vote PLP again… I’m sure if you do the same thing over and over, a different outcome might appear? At least, that’s what the majority of this Island seems to think.
The counting of unemployed persons in Bermuda is all well-intentioned but the reality is we should be counting all the export containers leaving BERMUDA FULL. Meaning we should try to stem the flow of people leaving the island which in turn is the link to the unemployment crisis.
The questions should be: How many famililies are leaving the island? Why? What can we do as a country to keep people in Bermuda so that they help to bolster the economy that provides jobs for people in the retail, goods and services, grocery, utilities sectors. Come on Minister – toying around with unemployment stats is as futile as rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic as it is SINKING!
Anyone can check with Bermuda Forwarders, at last count they have a full book of at least 75 families ready to check out of Bermuda. Of course we will have unemployment. Unemployment is the symptom, dig deeper Minister to find the cause, and then as a new friend said to me: IMPROVISE, ADAPT and OVERCOME. (A phrase borrowed from their Marine Corps Dad)
ARGH!!!!!
This is what they done when the took the old schools away. When all the Blacks where becoming more technical because schools like Robert Crawford, Sandys, St.Georges Sec etc where instilling this in our systems and they saw how many Bermudians where benefitting by opening there own businesses, and mind you this was not the PLP then it was the UBP so ppl learn your History and wise up on your next vote they started the crap and now want to sit back brain wash the public and make ti seem that is the PLP FAULT.