The Bermudian economy continued to grow as the number of filled jobs rose by almost 1,000 over the last year, according to the latest statistics of the Department of Statistics.

The Labour Market Indicators report revealed that the total occupied positions increased from 38,947 in 2005 to 39,686 in 2006, with men still having the lion's share of the market of 20,730 compared to 18,956 women last year.

Meanwhile, the median age of a worker was 41.5 years-old, with 32.8 hours the average number of weekly hours worked.

Median annual gross earnings stood at $50,696, up from $48,183 two years ago, with a gap of almost 4,000 between men and women earning potential at $52,360 and 48,848 respectively.

The number of unfilled posts for waiters rose from 16 to 64, unfilled jobs for chef de parties or cooks went up from 16 to 55, for executive secretaries unfilled posts rose from 53 to 78 and for managers or directors of finance it was up from 19 to 42, while the number of landscape gardener unfilled vacancies climbed from 14 to 20.

The biggest employment sector for men was masonry, with a job count of 764, while 996 women occupied administrative assistant posts as the top profession.

In terms of Bermudians, the figures did not increase dramatically, with the total number of filled positions advancing by 43 overall, while average wages were up by more than $1,000 per year.

The most popular occupations proved to be labourer (497) for men and, again, administrative assistant (753) for women.

The trend for non-Bermudian spouses and other non-Bermudians also continued in line with recent years, as non-Bermudian spouses took up more jobs, totalling 1,992, with others boosting their share of the employment market by almost 600.

The police force (39) was the top employer for non-Bermudian male spouses, with the chef de partie or cook (264) the most chosen profession of the others, while administrative assistants (76) topped the job count for female non-Bermudian spouses and accountants (264) for others.

Permanent residents significantly increased their quota of total filled positions from 411 in 2005 to 525 last year, with the median age of workers soaring from 42.5 to 50.6, and median annual gross earnings creeping above $50,000, up almost $4,000, as cleaner or houseman occupied number one slot for men (38) and women (24) alike.

Finally, the divide of black to white and other summer students was almost double at 395 to 201 respectively.

The retail trade and repair industry was the most popular choice of students from both categories, with blacks taking up 113 positions and whites and others 59.

Construction (45), hotels (38), wholesale trade and motor vehicles (37) formed the rest of the top five postings for blacks, with whites and others opting for other community, social and personal services (24), financial intermediation (19), hotels (18) and wholesale trade and motor vehicles.