figures normally quoted, Labour and Home Affairs Minister the Hon. Irving Pearman told the House of Assembly yesterday.

But Shadow Labour and Home Affairs Minister Mr. Alex Scott accused the Minister of diminishing the unemployment figures through a "Pearman shuffle'' worthy of retired boxing great Muhammad Ali.

The exchange was made as debate began on last year's thick Report of the Premier's Task Force on Employment.

It was a "take note'' motion -- a chance for MPs to air their views without voting to take any action.

Mr. Pearman noted that the task force, established by Premier the Hon. Sir John Swan in 1992, was chaired by businessman Mr. David Lines and involved the work of numerous sub-committees.

One of its objectives was to help Bermuda respond to "a period of dynamic and dramatic change in the workforce,'' he said.

The task force report was "an excellent guide,'' and while Government did not agree with all the recommendations, it was moving forward on many of them, the Minister said.

Of 2,669 new work permits issued between April 1 and December 31, 1994, nearly 1,000 were in professional and technical areas. There was "a real opportunity for Bermudians'' to respond to the needs of business, and Mr. Pearman would be bringing to the House a detailed breakdown on what permits had been issued for which specific jobs.

The information would be used to develop a more effective Skills Guide for Bermudians.

Of 40 recommendations in the task force report, nine were implemented, 18 were in progress, six were not to be acted on, and seven were not to be acted on at the present time, Mr. Pearman said.

He then began going through the recommendations in detail, noting what action had been taken, and why certain recommendations had been rejected.

Some information kept by his Ministry had been moved to the Statistics Department, freeing up two Labour Ministry workers to work on new training programmes, he said.

Legislation had been drafted in response to the recommendation that Government remove itself from labour/management disputes. The draft law was soon to be vetted by the Labour Advisory Council.

In response to another recommendation, all labour legislation was now first being vetted by Government, labour, and management.

An Employment Protection Act recommended in the report had been discussed, but it was proposed to instead wait and see how the new Employment Code of Ethics worked.

Mr. Pearman said he would be withdrawing the Employment Code tabled earlier in the House and replacing it with one that had been refined by the LAC.

Recommendations on disclosure of information in contract negotiations were discussed at a summit last year. While it was hoped employers would provide financial information during negotiations, it was felt it was not appropriate to legislate such a requirement. The feeling was the same on the recommendation of compulsory arbitration to resolve disputes. Better that it be used voluntarily, Mr. Pearman said.

A discussion paper was being prepared on union decertification in response to a secret ballot vote by members. The LAC had rejected a recommendation that a Ministry technical officer be named its chairman, preferring that the Minister continue to chair meetings, he said.

On a recommendation that Ministry policies be binding on the Public Service Commission, Mr. Pearman said it was only the Ministry's role to advise the PSC of Ministry policies. After that, it "is a matter for themselves,'' he said of the PSC.

A major response to the task force was a planned reorganisation of the Labour Ministry with the help of Management Services, Mr. Pearman said. An employment training department would be created, and a National Training Act would be brought to the House soon to create a National Training Board, recommended by the Apprenticeship and Training Council.

Government had rejected for the time being creation of a Ministry of Economic Development and Human Resources. Nor had it acted on a proposal to rename the hospital levy and employment tax the employment and training levy and use the money to fund a new Human Resource Institute.

A recommendation for more emphasis on problem solving and inter-personal skills in secondary school training was being acted on by the Ministry of Education. It was also working on another recommendation to strengthen links between schools and businesses.

And the Tourism Minister was working on luring a new hotel, as recommended in the report.

"We're a society that can no longer afford to have it's people not being prepared to provide for themselves and their families in future,'' Mr. Pearman said.

Unemployment was "a real concern,'' but the facts surrounding the numbers had to be examined.

"There's a perception that the unemployed are growing in leaps and bounds,'' he said. "The statistics don't support that.'' As of January 31, there were 862 people registered as unemployed at the Government Employment Office, he said. But of those, 110 had jobs and were looking for part-time work, and another 112 had jobs but were looking for a change in employment.

That left 640 unemployed, or a rate of 1.9 percent. But of those, 283 had been out of work less than two months and in many countries would not be counted as unemployed, he said. If those were subtracted, Bermuda was left with an unemployment rate of 1.05 percent.

While the Country should have sympathy for them, "we have to also accept that within that group there are some who don't want to accept the full commitment of employment,'' Mr. Pearman said.

Scott accuses Pearman of `shuffling' jobless figures From Page 4 unemployed people who "don't show up,'' he said. Some people only wanted to work part-time.

The Ministry had strictly controlled work permits for hotel porters, landscapers, and gardeners and "we have employers screaming, `Look what you're doing to us,''' Mr. Pearman said.

The number of work permits in Bermuda had shrunk from more than 10,000 in 1989 to just over 5,000 today. Government had a duty to support and encourage Bermudians in getting jobs, but "they have an obligation once they get it to meet the requirements of the job,'' Pearman said.

Mr. Scott said he got apprehensive when he heard Mr. Pearman say his Ministry was moving forward.

During the debate on the Police Tumim report last July, Mr. Pearman said "everything was in hand'' in the Police department, he noted. "I was startled last evening to have the Minister reveal that he lays a lot of the blame for a lot of the alleged shortcomings in the force on the retiring Police Commissioner.'' Mr. Scott felt Mr. Pearman had "a tendency to, shall we say, exaggerate'' in reporting progress.

The Minister's perspective was "that of the business community,'' but he had to remember his public responsibility.

In reporting Bermuda's unemployment figures, Mr. Pearman began with 862 Bermudians, "and by the time the Minister finished he had done some wonderful footwork worthy of Muhammad Ali and had gotten it down to one percent, and was still going down,'' Mr. Scott said. It was "the Pearman shuffle.'' Mr. Scott felt Mr. Pearman missed some important statistics.

Bermudian males, the breadwinners and male role models, lost 2.3 percent of the share of jobs between 1982 and 1991, while the share of jobs held by Bermudian females grew by 15.2 percent, the share held by non-Bermudian males grew by 16 percent, and the share held by non-Bermudian females grew by 50 percent.

Another "startling'' figure showed the extend of de-Bermudianisation in the hospitality industry between 1982 and 1991. Restaurants went to 59.3 percent Bermudian from 77 percent, and hotels to 70 percent Bermudian from 75.7 percent.

Mr. Pearman would have the public believe that Bermudians working in hospitality hopped into BMWs and drove to other jobs, Mr. Scott said.

But, "I'll tell you where they found themselves,'' he said. "They found themselves on the dole.'' How did Bermudians get to where they were? Mr. Scott asked. "It's a given that something has gone wrong. It's obvious that something is rotten in the State of Denmark and the Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs.'' It was a triple failure, Mr. Scott said. The education system had failed, as had immigration policy. And business had not invested enough in training.

Even Government backbencher Mrs. Grace Bell had spoken out publicly about illegals working in Bermuda. "She has lost patience with seeing Bermudians squeezed out,'' Mr. Scott said.

If Government was going to continue expanding job opportunities for spouses of Bermudians and long-term residents, "you must protect the rights of Bermudians,'' Mr. Scott said. As Mr. Pearman changes policy, "any change that does not put Bermudians first will be implemented at his peril.'' Mr. Scott had called for a labour summit to examine the gains, losses and future direction of organised labour.

"If those who depend on labour for their protection do not receive full-blooded assistance from their organisation, then we feel industrial relations are threatened,'' Mr. Scott said.

"Bermuda's labour movement must change its tactics in our view, or suffer further setbacks.'' The workplace was getting leaner, but was also "regrettably getting meaner...towards Bermudians.'' And a problem was that "the education system does not produce what the active economy requires.'' Citing figures from the task force report, Mr. Scott said unemployment at the end of February, 1993 was 3.0 to 3.5 percent, and that figure likely under-represented those who were out of work but not registered.

The 1991 census placed unemployment at about nine percent, when those on short-term layoff were counted, he said. "The recession has taken place since then, so we can believe that the statistics are worse.'' The whole question of unemployment was "an unknown factor,'' and Mr. Scott called for more reliable Government figures.

Continued in Monday's paper The Hon. Irving Pearman Mr. Alex Scott