The number of expatriate workers and the length of their stay on the Island has increased over the last decade.

In the May, 2004 report on labour trends based on the 1991 and 2000 Census, the Department revealed there has been a steady growth in the number of work permit holders from 6,270 in 1991 to 6,903 in 2000, an increase of more than ten percent.

And of those guest workers (which excluded the spouses of Bermudians), nearly one tenth have lived in Bermuda for more than 20 years compared to seven percent in 1991.

There was also an increase in the number of foreigners whose stay exceeded the duration of one typical work permit (three years) from 53 percent to 55 percent.

The expatriates arriving in Bermuda are far better educated in 2000 than in 1991. More than 40 percent of foreign workers were educated at university level in 2000, an increase of 72 percent over 1991.

That change, the report said, affirmed the structural change that has occurred in the economy since the last census.

In comparison, of the young Bermudians entering the workforce in 2000, only 19 percent had a university education.

For the most part, the overall increase in guest workers reflected the employment growth in the international insurance and reinsurance markets, and in the financial and business services sectors.