Bermuda saw a modest dip in the pace of incorporation activity during the first nine months of this year, according to data revealed in Government?s recently released Bulletin of Statistics.

Through the third quarter, 1,001 new firms were added to the Bermuda company register compared to 1,020 additions during the same three-quarter period a year ago.

New companies were added at a rate of 354, 320 and 327 in the first, second and third quarters, respectively.

The additions left 16,806 companies registered on the Island at the end of the third quarter compared to 16,393 during the same timeframe a year ago.

Local incorporation activity increased moderately in the first and third quarters ? up 5.4 percent and 2.2 percent from the prior year ? but fell in the second quarter by 18 percent.

And exempted company formations were down during the nine-month period, compared to a year earlier, by an average of 5.3 percent.

In total, 742 companies in this category were added, compared to 784 during the first nine months of 2004.

Broken down by type of company, as of the end of September, there were 3,045 local companies registered, 12,517 exempted companies, exempted partnerships numbered 632, non-resident entities stood at 592 and there were 20 non-resident insurance companies registered.

The bulletin also showed that most of those employed by the Island?s businesses saw pay rises in 2005.

The highest increases went to construction workers, where wages rose 12.7 percent, 14 percent and eight percent during the first, second and third quarters of the year.

And employees in the international business sector also saw their salaries rise 12.4 percent, 10.9 percent and 2.7 percent in the first three quarters.

There were moderate declines on salaries for public administration and defence workers in the first quarter (-0.7%) but this was offset by rises for this sector in the second quarter (+6.2%) and third quarter (+6.6%).

And in the third quarter transport and communication staff saw a 1.4 percent decline in employment income.