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How many Bermudians does it take to change a lightbulb? That's a dumb question, because there are no Bermudians left to do the job. We're going to have to bring in a foreigner.

I'm not saying Bermudian's aren't capable of changing bulbs, because you know they are. It's just that they're otherwise engaged. We could offer more pay, and maybe lure a Bermudian from some other job. But then we'd have to bring in a foreigner to fill THAT job.

So we're still in the same position: As long as we keep creating more jobs in Bermuda, we're going to keep bringing in more foreigners.

A tourism revival? Bring in more foreigners!

A surge in international business? Bring in more foreigners! A building boom? Bring in more foreigners!

There's no escaping the mathematical facts: With something very close to zero unemployment right now, we have to bring in one foreigner for virtually every new job that's created. Every additional job created means an additional person moving onto the island, using up housing and space on Bermuda's roads.

You do the calculations:

At last count, there were 41,058 jobs in Bermuda. Bermudians managed to fill 27,356 of them... but then we ran out of Bermudians.

So we filled another 11,805 jobs with foreigners... and we still had 1,897 jobs left

vacant.

One of the problems with the two big business booms expected over the coming months - hotels and construction - is that both are labour intensive.

The last figures I've seen published, earlier this year, showed that 2,452 people employed in the hotel accommodation industry, of whom just 1,546 were Bermudian.

So it's not like we have some kind of untapped reservoir of Bermudians looking for hotel jobs: We've had to import close to 1,000 hotel workers even before building an of the big new hotels that are planned.

The planned Jumeirah hotel at Southlands comes complete with a 10 storey staff quarters, and a good thing too.

If the hotel employs (let us say) 300 people, then Bermuda will require 300 additional non-Bermudians workers - either to work in the hotel itself, or fill jobs that Bermudian employees have left in order to work at the new property.

Bermudians already complain their island is overcrowded, and they already complain there are too many foreigners here.

So why, exactly are we doing this?

There's the promise of profits for property owners and developers, of course. But what's in it for Bermuda and her citizens?

There was a time, of course, when new hotels and construction projects of any kind were welcomed by the community, or at least seen as a reasonable trade-off to make, because they provided jobs and income.

The employment issues for Bermudians aren't whether or not they can find work.

Bigger issues

The big employment issues in Bermuda are fairness, promotion, racial equality and job satisfaction.

There is also the major challenge of earning enough money to afford a decent lifestyle on an island where everything - especially housing - is extraordinarily expensive.

It is hard to see how any of these issues are helped by more, larger development, or by increasing the number of non-Bermudians in the island's workforce.

It is hard to see how these developments will increase Bermudians' sense of empowerment or involvement in their own economy.

And it is hard to see how these developments - and especially a long sustained boom in the construction industry - can do anything but make Bermuda an even more expensive place to live.

It will certainly cause much higher demand - and much higher prices - in the building industry. This will severely hurt ordinary Bermudians, who are already faced with notoriously expensive home prices.

So what are we are trying to achieve here?

We would be better off making better use of the jobs we already have, using improved education and training to push Bermudians up the ladder.

We would be better off to encourage smaller hotels, and smaller building projects, where Bermudians could have a better chance at top management and ownership positions.

We would be better off trying to restrain costs, especially in the housing and building area, to make the island more affordable.

I don't blame developers and builders and business owners when they clamour for growth. That's where the money is.

But right now, with the economy already booming and almost every Bermudian already employed, they are the only people who will benefit. The rest of Bermuda will suffer. This is not the time to go on a building and development spree. We've got plenty of jobs here already.[[In-content Ad]]

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