Opposition MP Rolfe Commissiong is urging the Bermuda Government to ensure the Island keeps up with global scientific and technological advances that have the potential to transform our workplaces and economy.

Delivering a motion in the House of Assembly, Mr Commissiong said a “vast array of jobs and professions” had already “been transformed by the widespread adoption of information technologies” and “outsourcing”.

He called on MPs to “take note of the growing and increasingly complex challenges due to globalisation and the growing demand for smart talent and competitive advantage in the 21st century”.

Mr Commissiong, the Shadow Minister of Human Affairs, said that although a significant number of jobs were lost during the recession, the rise of information technology had also “contributed to a decline in levels of employment locally and transformed labour markets globally”.

He said clerical, retail, law, financial services and medical professions had already been affected by technology replacing the need for humans and that these changes were “powerfully gaining pace”.

Mr Commissiong warned that unless the implications of this “technological revolution” were addressed, “the great gains that were made over the last 60 years could be at risk and the Bermuda of 2025 will be quite unlike the one we all hope for”.

He called on the Government, trade union partners and Bermudians to “mobilise for the type of change that will enable us to navigate these challenges effectively, and in a manner which enhances our competitive advantage and thus our place in the global economy”. Mr Commissiong also referenced Bermuda’s transition from tourism to international business, beginning in the mid-1980s, and quoted the 2007 Columbia University report, A study of Employment, Earnings, and Educational Gaps between Young Black Males and their Same-Age Peers, which concluded that the shift resulted in a declining demand for less educated workers and a rising demand for those with higher levels of education.

Mr Commissiong added that “the failure to get it right after the last major shift”, along with “systemic racial discrimination”, left too many people, “particularly our black Bermudian men and the black community more broadly, sidelined and/or marginalised with respect to their ability to fully participate in this economy and society over the preceding period”.

He contended that Bermuda was now experiencing an “even more profoundly challenging” transformation, which would “likely result in even less demand for those workers without the requisite mastery of technical and/or professional disciplines”. Mr Commissiong questioned whether enough was being done to prepare Bermuda “for the game-changing forces” at a strategic level.

Encouraging youth to take advantage of workshops and opportunities such as hackathons will play a key factor in doing so, according to Mr Commissiong.

He also urged the Government to partner with organisations such as Code Tuna Camp, the Technology Leadership Forum, Open Bermuda and Waterwise to help them broaden their scope.

“Both the public, non-governmental and private-sector stakeholders should offer their support with the aim of expanding the outreach, so that literally hundreds, if not thousands, of our young people can have the benefit of these experiences,” he said.

Mr Commissiong also proposed teaching coding to at least 500 children yearly and urged the Government, as well as the private sector, to help by providing tablet devices and internet services, particularly to underserved communities, “to help facilitate their participation and immersion in science technology engineering and maths”.

He called for a “world-class education system” with a curriculum that had “an increased focus on science, technology, engineering and maths”, and the establishment of a “National Skills Strategy for the 21st century”.

Mr Commissiong added that he intended to advocate “for the establishment of a Cabinet-level task force” to “better prioritise and prepare Bermuda and its people for the critical structural challenges that lie immediately ahead of us”.