Employment report may be kept secret
The Royal Gazette has learned.
The report, written by Bermudian Arnold Minors, stemmed from a two-day jobs conference he helped organise last April in a bid to promote dialogue and an exchange of ideas among stake holders in the labour economy.
The report suggested that Government reveal what recommendations it has followed and will follow in the future.
The report is currently being reviewed by the Ministry of Labour, Home Affairs and Public Safety, and Labour Minister Quinton Edness recently said he had not decided if the "philosophical report'' was going to be released.
Mr. Minors, a Bermudian who holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Queen's University, has run a consulting company in Toronto, where he lives, since 1983.
Yesterday he told The Royal Gazette that his report contained a review of all the employment studies that have been carried out to date.
"And it contains a summary of what the participants said at the conference,'' he added.
He also said he never expected to receive any comments on the report from Government upon its completion.
The April conference was designed to be a catalyst for solutions to employment problems and attracted a wide-cross section of the community -- from white collar executives to single mothers and the unemployed.
Some 188 people registered to attend.
At the time of the conference Mr. Minors said a "wide range of projects'' flowed from the conference.
"I call them projects because people said they were going to work on the ideas,'' he added.
The ideas included: Increasing the work permit fee from about $500 to $5,000 in a bid to deter employers from taking on non-Bermudians, such as those who arrived on the Island on holiday; Working with employers to find placements for former prisoners with specific skills; Allowing a greater range of students to be admitted to Bermuda College; and Giving the jobless a chance to boost their employment skills by doing volunteer work.
CONFERENCE CON
