Today the Minister for the Cabinet Office the Hon. Wayne Furbert JP MP held a press conference to present findings from the May 2019 Labour Force Survey Report. His remarks are as follows:
Good Morning,
Today I am pleased to formally release the May 2019 Labour Force Survey Report from the Department of Statistics.
The report contains selected indicators of the labour force and economically inactive population. These indicators are compared between the May 2018 and the May 2019 Labour Force Survey Reports.
I am very encouraged by several of the findings which, I believe, speak to this Government’s commitment to invest in our people, encourage small business development and grow our economy.
For example, the number of persons who were underemployed in May 2019 decreased by 10.6% when compared with May 2018, totalling 5,673 persons - or 16.0 % of the working population. The sharp decline in underemployment signals an increased level of job satisfaction among the working population. Measures of underemployment include job holder dissatisfaction with working conditions, the amount and/or scheduling of time worked, concerns with duration of employment, whether temporary or seasonal work, underutilization of work skills and desire for higher pay.
A further positive trend of note is that the median gross annual income from the main jobs of persons 16-24 years rose by 17.8% from $23, 455 in May 2018 to $27,631 in May 2019. Additionally, the median gross annual income for persons without a formal certificate of education increased by 15.1 % from $41,357 in 2018 to $47,588 in 2019. With respect to race, persons of mixed and other racial backgrounds, recorded significant gains in their median gross annual income which rose by 11.9% from $56, 028 in 2018 to $62,711 in 2019. Between May 2018 and May 2019, non-Bermudians marked an 8.8% increase in their median gross annual income from $67,401 to $73,352.
‘The median’ is based on annual income before deductions. The income data relates to the working population including full- and part-time workers, regardless of the number of hours and months worked.
The term 'labour force' refers to those persons of working age who were 16 years or older during the survey reference week and were either gainfully employed (the working population) or available and looking for work (the unemployed population).
The Island’s unemployment rate remained unchanged at 5.2% from last May.
Between May 2018 and May 2019, the greatest gains in employment occurred amongst high school certificate holders which grew by 12.6 % from 10,627 to 11,969. Degree holders also made significant strides in employment levels as their number increased by 9.0% during this period.
Other noteworthy gains in employment were recorded by persons aged 25 to 34 years and 65 years and older which increased year-over-year by 9.3 % and 8.1%, respectively.
So, as you can see, we have some positive news as we head into Christmas.
In closing, I want to say ‘thank you’ to all those who took part and completed the survey when contacted by interviewers. I understand there was a very good response rate with 99% of the completion target met by the end of the data collection period.
The May 2019 Labour Force Survey Report is available online at https://www.gov.bm/employment-statistics .
The public is advised to read the technical note and the concepts and definitions on pages three through six prior to reviewing the data.
Thank you.