The grim reality of Bermuda's struggling economy is hitting home to increasing numbers of families, according to a new poll.

Leading businessman Peter Everson yesterday warned the growing lack of public faith in the economy — highlighted in a Research.bm survey — was unlikely to improve any time soon, despite signs of recovery in the United States.

Just 18 percent of people said they had confidence in the direction of Bermuda's economy in this month's poll, down from 22 percent last October. Those without confidence has crept up from 38 percent to 39 percent. The remaining 43 percent sat on the fence.

Reflecting on the poll, Chamber of Commerce economic division chairman Mr. Everson told The Royal Gazette: "These results tell me that the economic slowdown has been hitting close to home for many Bermudians.

"At the present time people can see and feel the impact of jobs lost either directly, because they have lost a job; or indirectly, because someone in their family or a colleague has been impacted.

"This measure will only turn up after new jobs have started to appear. I believe that this is likely to be some way into the future because, traditionally, Bermuda lags behind the USA.

"In the USA, new non-government jobs are still rare whereas layoffs are continuing. The USA is not yet creating new jobs in the private sector and thus it will be some while before Bermuda can expect to follow."

Mr. Everson said Bermuda needs to be even more cautious, explaining that financial services, construction, and tourism/hospitality — the three sectors its economy revolves around — are all facing major difficulties.

"It is the financial services sector that brought the crisis upon the developed economies because it grew too large; it is now in a downturn and it is likely to be some time before it bottoms out let alone promotes net new hiring," he said.

"This has to impact Bermuda because Bermuda international business is either a player in this sector or services this sector.

"If your market is shrinking or your customer base is shrinking then your business too must shrink unless you can take market share from rivals."

He said the outlook for the construction industry is poor because Bermuda already has too many buildings currently out of use, such as unlet office space and half-empty hotels.

"It is unlikely that there will be significant new building activity until some part of this slack has been taken up," he said.

And he said of tourism and hospitality: "That sector is dependent on the US consumer returning to prior spending patterns and that is again someway off because they too are struggling with job losses, increasing mortgage payments and the need to save money or pay off credit card debt."

This month's poll results are a far cry from just two years ago, when Bermuda's buoyant economy was the envy of much of the world.

A survey in March 2007 showed 66 percent of people thought the economy was good or excellent, with then Chamber of Commerce vice president Philip Barnett commenting that the growth of international business was creating many opportunities for residents and attracting professionals to the Island.

This month's telephone poll of 432 residents took place from January 6 to January 9 and has a 4.9 percent margin of error.