The amount of money earned in wages in Bermuda has increased by more than 24 percent since 1998, according to statistics released by the Government this week.

And the total amount of wages has been rising steadily since, with $1.08 billion earned in the first three quarters of 1998, rising $30 million or three percent to $1.17 billion for the same period in 1999.

It then carried on this upward spiral adding on $87.9 million or 7.5 percent to stand at $1.25 billion in 2000. It once again rose by $89.8 million or 7.2 percent to $1.34 billion for the first three quarters of 2001.

The Quarterly Bulletin of Statistics, which is issued by the Government Statistics Department, shows the steady increase in wages at a rate which is well above inflation, for the past four years.

The latest figures from Government for the number of jobs on the Island is 37,472 for 2000. When the total earnings for 2000 are divided by the the number of registered working, the average wage for 2000 was $45,330.

If there is a seven percent rise overall in the amount of money earned for the year of 2001, this average wage will rise by $2,173.10 to $48,503.10.

These figures do not, however, reflect the true average salary on the Island, as many have multiple jobs and this cannot be counted in Government statistics currently.

In the third quarter the total wage bill for all sectors of Bermuda's workers stood at $452 million, slightly more (an increase of less than one percent) than the previous quarter when it was $447.8 million.

It is a 3.4 percent increase for the third quarter year-on-year as the total employment income stood at $437.2 million for the 2000 quarter.

International business topped employment earnings taking in $263.5 million for the first three quarters of 2001. This is a jump of $46.3 million or 21 percent from the same period in 2000 when the three quarters together brought in $217.2 million. Since 1998, the rise in the amount of money for the first three quarters of the year is $112.7 million or 75 percent.

According to the 2000 estimates for total employment by major occupation groups, 2,207 people work in international business activity and for that year the average wage would have been an estimated $94,096.

The amount of money earned in hotels and restaurants for the third quarter stood at $34.8 million, up slightly from the quarter earlier and from the same period the year before when it stood at $34.6 million.

The number of people working in hotels in these sectors according to the 2000 Government figures is 5,175, making the average estimated wage for 2000 $24,621.

The smallest wage package out of the pack was for transport and communication, which reaped in $21.3 million, a sector which employs 2,918 people according to 2000 figures, making an average wage for that year of $27,363.

Construction fell to second last with a employment income of $29.3 million. Year 2000 figures show 2,601 people employed in this sector making an average wage for that year of $42,840.