Video: Minister Jason Hayward Q&A Session

July 1, 2020

[Updated] Minister of Labour Jason Hayward held a live conversation on the Government media’s Facebook page last night [June 30] where he spent 90 minutes answering a wide range of questions pertaining to immigration, work permits, employment, the island’s economy and more.

Update: When asked about the main challenges in moving forward, Minister Hayward said, “The main challenge is our unemployment situation. I don’t think that we would have been able to predict the high level of unemployment.

“There are still over 6,000 people unemployed, on the unemployment benefit, in addition to close to 3,000 people that were previously unemployed.

“We’re now talking about 9,000 people in our society that are unemployed. And if you were able to watch the Black Lives Matter march; I saw it from one vantage point and people came across me for 16 minutes in terms of from the vantage point I saw. That was estimated to be 7,000 people. So now if we’re talking about 9,000 people, that is a real stark reality; it’s more people than actually attend a Cup Match game at any point in time.

“So when you put it in that context, you see that we have real challenges on our hands. There are people that will need additional services, and we need to prepare ourselves as a government to ensure that no one is left behind.

“But it will be difficult. And unless we have economic growth, which creates job growth in our economy, this problem will be with us for some time.”

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Comments (6)

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  1. Bermudian says:

    While I’m not a PLP supporter I am impressed at how well Minister Hayward answered the questions last night. Most Bermudian employers understand that Bermudians should take priority in the workplace and be hired as such, BUT the fact that you’re Bermudian is not the only key factor in getting hired. Many things involve in hiring a person. Past work records, experience, skill and overall attitude. I worked for 7 years in HR in the retail sector. Its not easy finding the right person. I would get no shows, applicants show up a hot mess, not wanting to work Saturdays, not wanting to work shopping nights, not wanting to take certain lunch hours, not wanting to adhere to dress code policy. I also had stellar Bermudian staff who worked hard, were loyal and served as exemplary employees. My advice to any Bermudian looking for a job, you need to sell yourself hard in that interview. Make the HR manager think that YOU are the BOMB and that they HAVE to hire you. Then once you get the job work your butt off. Prove that Bermudians can and want to work. Always try to leave a job on good terms because employers check backgrounds (I did). Noone wants to hire someone who has a poor work record.

    • Toodle-oo says:

      This post should be mandatory reading for everyone who cries that they weren’t hired because of their , well , you know what .
      Some years back a manager of a large grocery store was looking for cashiers. After interviewing many the girl he liked best blew it when she heard that the shifts extended to 9pm. “Oh no” she said , “I gotta be home by 4.30 to watch my soaps , bye !”
      Ending up with terrible employees isn’t hard now , even in a place as small as this. It seems that ex-employer’s references can now only say that such and such a person used to work for them between certain dates , and that’s it , nothing else.
      One person I can think of had this experience when he hired an applicant who used to be a CS. When he called for references he got the usual ‘Oh yes , so and so worked here for X years , they’re a nice person’. Hired the individual and later found out that they lost their prior job because they tried to smuggle in a large quantity of coke. And to make matters worse the business involved has (legitimate) drugs everywhere on premise.
      The only truthful reference he ever had was when he was warned by the previous employer that the applicant was a crackhead thief.
      I believe that many employers are now using google searches to see how potential employees present themselves on social media. So much can now be learned from the internet and FB .

  2. Unbelievable says:

    Can someone ask Mr. Hayward about the proposed salary cut for MPs and Senators please? That topic seems to have been forgotten about.

    • watching says:

      Legislation was passed dealing with this.

  3. Donderered says:

    Mr hayward did lots of talking but i did not hear one solution to our economic issues