Bermuda has a glut of people who are unemployable because of a poor work ethic and social problems, according to business chiefs.

And Government backbencher Dale Butler says it is time Bermuda stopped sweeping this and other issues under the carpet and instead begins examining the claims.

"What we're seeing here is this degree of frustration from employers,'' he said.

"We don't know if it's two or three people in the country that's leading a number of employers to say this or are we talking about 20 or hundreds. But it's an issue that definitely needs to be discussed and it needs to be openly tackled."

Mr. Butler said it was not an issue for the Little Venice Group - where he works as Director of Training, Leadership and Communications.

But he added: "If this is an issue in the Country, no matter how small, let's get on top of it. A survey on employers' perceptions would be a good start. We definitely need statistics."

The issue surfaced after controversy erupted over a Help Wanted advert placed by Bermuda Pest Control. Critics lambasted the ad for its stipulation that applicants not have court cases pending or be in arrears with their child support payments.

Walter Saul, head of Bermuda Pest Control, while admitting it could have been better worded, defended the ad saying he was simply trying to weed out people with atrocious work ethics.

"He's absolutely right," said one human resources manager, who did not want to be named. "The pool of folks out there that are unemployable is horrific. It really is."

Her company, an employer of hundreds of people - many of them young Bermudians - goes to great lengths to help alleviate some of the "baggage" some of their employees bring with them.

"I think of myself as another department of social services, financial assistance, housing corporation - I find myself intervening on people's behalf. I know everybody at Social Services and Family Services by name. It's so much baggage that these people come with."

She said absenteeism is chronic with the worst days of the week being Mondays and Fridays.

They don't show up on Mondays and they get paid on Fridays and they go for lunch Friday and they forget they have to work Friday afternoon and Saturdays. If there is a special event like a soca concert they call in sick.

"I believe there is one more county game and guaranteed there will be people calling in sick. But if you go to the county game you will see them there. They don't have any work ethic at all. It's always instant gratification for them and not what the responsibilities would be for the job."

Other problems, she said, included a lack of respect for authority, abysmally low motivation and self-esteem issues.

When asked for her worst horror story, she told of an instance of someone who fabricated the death of a grandmother as an excuse for not showing up for work. In the past, she added, employees suspected of drug use have been known to "walk straight out of the door" when offered help.

"There are some folks who want you to help them and they are success stories, but then you have those who when you realise what they are doing and you confront them that's it. They go and they won't even tell you."

Asked whether the unemployables fall into any particular category she said: "We're talking about young blacks between the ages of 17 and 25. They call them the Generation X."

She said that the phenomenon was not restricted to Bermuda and she had been examining literature from overseas which shared information on "dealing with angry people in the workplace - it's worldwide."

The National Training Board, she told The Royal Gazette, is aware of the problem.

"They try to send out the best that they have and that is sometimes still not acceptable to the private sector,'' she said. ''The ability to do the job is there but willingness to want to do the job is not. The desire to want to do it is just not there. I spend more time motivating and building self esteem so that we can get the job done - which makes us a bit more successful than other companies because we take the time.

"You find someone that has problems and you bring them in and you find out what's going on because all of a sudden their self esteem has gone straight down to ground zero and you have to take the time to bring it back up - even if you have to use outside agencies."

The manager said she routinely accompanies employees to court and makes calls to social services agencies on their behalf.

"I feel that if I take the excess baggage off them their productivity will rise. But it is really, really pathetic out there - it's sad - it's very, very sad."

In her experience, young Bermudians who did succeed in the workplace tended to be those who went abroad for schooling, she said.

"Most of them come back with a refreshing attitude - it gives them a sense of independence." Those who have been brought up exclusively on the Island tend to be "very close minded" because of the Island's small size, she said.

"They tend to see more of the negative things than the positive."

She said a concerted effort was needed to ensure the next generation doesn't inherit the same attitudinal and social problems.

"There's not much we can do about Generation X right now other than pray. At the same time we need to start with the younger kids at primary school - to foster courtesy, honesty and positive mental attitude. And hopefully we can break the cycle."

No one from the National Training Board could be contacted for comment.