figures goes back and forth. As we see the debate, it has no real point. The real point is that there are jobs in Bermuda, plenty of jobs, if people want to do them.

Government figures show less than 500 unemployed and the Opposition says there are some 2,000. The real figure probably depends on how you count. Many people do not register as unemployed and many people who do register get jobs and never remove their name from the unemployed list. You cannot make people register.

People who are in a position to offer jobs in Bermuda are well aware of the difficulties involved in finding anyone to do those jobs. It it not unusual to receive no response to advertisements even for relatively simple jobs. Often the people who are hired do not show up for work or arrive but are not very interested in working. Hiring someone is a two way street. If a job is provided, there is a justified expectation that it will be undertaken and completed with at least a degree of capability.

Employment is not as simple as some politicians would have us think. It is not just the number of jobs equals the number of people. As we see it, the problem really arises when people who want a job and can do that job are unemployed.

That Bermuda needs to guard against. But there are people who for all sorts of reasons drift from job to job with periods of unemployment in between who are a social problem as opposed to an unemployment statistic. The truth seems to be that some of them do not want to work on any regular basis but prefer "a hustle'' here and there.

Of course it is true, as the Opposition maintains, that people who are unemployed are often tempted into the drug trade and other forms of crime and that is a problem which must be recognised. But then it is also clear that there are people in the drug trade who are capable of holding jobs, even good jobs, but choose the high cash return which selling illegal drugs produces.

Often they have the education and the ability to succeed in the job market and the system in Bermuda has not failed them. They take the risk of going to prison because of the profits and are often protected by family and friends who indirectly benefit from these illegal profits. Technically they are unemployed but in fact they are very lucratively employed.

Then there are a number of people who are unemployable and we all see them every day on the streets of Hamilton and elsewhere. Some of them are incapacitated by alcohol or drugs. Some have physical or mental problems. Some have places to go and family who care but prefer the camaraderie of the streets. That is a very difficult social problem but it is not a problem which is unique to Bermuda nor can it be solved by offering regular jobs.

The truth seems to be that Bermuda suffers from very similar social problems when compared to other places but it does not suffer from a lack of jobs. The Bermudian economy is not in the doldrums, nor are we in any kind of recession.

The economic system is working for the people of Bermuda. Business is booming.

Construction is also booming. There are jobs.