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Is there a pay disparity. Sure. It does exist, and race is a factor, but not quite the way that some in the media have grabbed and run with. I'll give you some plain facts - with each fact supported by real numbers and real events.

Let's start with, who is black? Landscapers and agricultural workers from the West Indies are black. Many hotel workers are black. These categories are amongst the lowest paid in Bermuda. But they are not black Bermudian.

     Who is white? Almost all of the seven figure earners in IB are white. Almost all of the highest income earning managers in the private sector are white. But they are not white Bermudian.

       If the fuss is over black versus white, then the white foreign owners of the capital will certainly get paid more than any black or white - Bermudian or non-Bermudian - lower echelon worker in the company. That's the global rule the whole world over. Nothing to do with race.

In India, the people who own TATA are Indians, and their take-home pay is higher than the take-home pay of their lower echelon workers. Same thing in Nigeria. Nothing to do with race. All to do with who owns. And who asks.

The Bermuda Government has fixed pay scales. Government's top pay is about $150,000 per year. Government's basic pay for a labourer is about $45,000 a year. All government workers draw pay within that range.

A civil servant with a PhD and 25 years of work experience will top out at about $150,000 p.a. In the private sector as the CEO of a $10bn a year company, he or she might top out at $1,500,000 p.a. or $10,000,000 p.a.

The latest employment statistics show that in 2008, there were 40,213 people filling jobs in Bermuda. Of these, only 27,180 were Bermudian. Of these 27,180 Bermudians, about 19,000 are black. Of these 19,000 black Bermudians, about 4,900 work under the umbrella of government. They're spread over the Civil Service, BIU 'industrials' working directly for government, in the quangos Bermuda Housing Corp, WEDCO, BLDC, Bermuda Hospitals Board; and in the autonomous agency, the Bermuda Monetary Authority.

Look carefully at that number - 4,900. That means that MORE than one out of every four black Bermudians works for the Bermuda government. And government has a fixed pay scale. The private sector does not.

Look at Education. There were 729 Bermudian teachers in the public system in 2006/2007. These Bermudian teachers all have degrees. Many have Masters degrees. Several have Doctorates. They are all on a fixed salary scale.

In 2007, an educator with a Master's degree AND an additional qualification such as CA, CPA, CMA, CGA (accounting qualifications) would have a top pay of $99,219. Same with a doctorate, the top pay was $110,644. If offered - and taken up - what pay would these qualifications attract in the private sector?

I regularly see ads by HSBC that ask for a Bachelor's degree and that offer $80,000 to $160,000. Clearly the private sector offers and pays more. As far as I know, HSBC is a race neutral employer.

Black Bermudians have flooded into government. In 2007, government reported that its workforce was 89.3% Bermudian and 79% black. Government is disproportionately black and employs - directly and indirectly -­ over one in every four black BERMUDIANS. That combination of real employment and pay facts has a measurable and 'findable' impact on averages and medians and all the other statistics that have so suddenly jumped into the headlines.

As Bermudians, we owe it to ourselves to see facts and not political myths. To sometimes dig deeper to get the true and unchanging facts. Then deal with the truth!

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