Average employment income in Bermuda was $57,613 in 2004, and presumably more in 2005, and still more this year. The figure is astonishing. What it says is (a) you never had it so good, in the words of Harold Macmillan; (b) Bermuda may have the most successful economy in the history of the world, on a per capita basis; and (c) to be brutal, if you can?t make it here, you probably can?t make it anywhere.

Oof. That didn?t end up where I wanted it to, but let?s keep going.

I came by the $57,613 figure (which equates to 1,100 bucks a week), from one of two publications that paint numerical portraits of aspects of Bermuda and its people.

?Facts and Figures 2005? is a booklet put out annually by the Department of Statistics of the Cabinet Office of the Government of Bermuda. It is free (from the Department in the Cedar Parkade, or online at .) It presents in summary form some of the main indicators of social and economic trends in Bermuda. The booklet illuminates various aspects of Bermuda?s past and present, the former in words and the latter in numbers. It?s an essential reference tool, and a treat besides.

The other volume I picked up is weightier. ?Employment Survey Tabulation Set 2005? is 48 pages of statistical tables. It might be the annual employment survey, but I suspect instead that it?s a supporting document for the annual survey. It actually doesn?t matter what it is, because the Survey is a statistical portrait of working Bermuda as of last August. The document is a mine of information about the Island and its residents.

For instance, we have 82 ministers of religion and 36 members of parliament. (The positions are not exclusive.) Does that mean we trust in God about twice as much as we trust in politicians?

The whole permanent resident debate has resulted in 411 working PRC holders, out of a total working population of 38,947. That?s about one percent. Hardly worth the fuss, really.

Among other things, the Survey says the total number of ?production, transport and related? jobs is 7,468, including 1,342 drivers of various sorts but only 949 people work in agriculture, animal husbandry and fishing. Bermudians are no longer hunter-gatherers, although those who work in government communications might be described as junta-blatherers.

International business is the main major division of economic activity, with 4,213 people at work, but the methodology is a little weird.

For some reason, whenever official Bermuda counts its international business sector, it under-counts.

For instance: the survey lists separately, in addition to those counted in international business, those in financial intermediation (2,859 people), even though most of those jobs are exclusively involved in international business. A majority of those listed in business services (total 3,871 people) ? accountants, lawyers and other professionals would be in this category ? also work on nothing but international business.

Of the 3,494 employed in construction, how many work exclusively on building international business offices such as those being developed at the Waterfront and elsewhere across Hamilton?

From ?Facts & Figures 2005?, we learn that commercial electricity costs less than residential electricity and did so for each of the three years 2002-2004. There must be a good reason for that, but I can?t think of one. Can it possibly be true that a multi-billion dollar insurance company buys electricity at less than you or I do? If it is true, there must be a compelling reason for it, and if there is, why don?t companies pay less for other bills, such as rent or parking tickets?

In 2004, 6,080 calls to Bermuda?s emergency services resulted in a dispatch. In other words, someone calls out the emergency services every 90 minutes, all year round. If we could just stop him from doing that ?. The average property loss from each call in 2004 was $6,985. If my calculations are correct, that means that economic losses for events attended by emergency services cost $42.5 million. (Fabian was the year before).

Speaking of emergencies, a total of 31,469 visits were made to King Edward in 2004. That?s more than three visits an hour, every day of the year. What are you people doing, for goodness sake? Stop it at once.

A total of 263 residential homes were built in Bermuda in 2004. Not many would have been ?affordable?, even if you were making $57,613 a year.

If the average Bermuda resident?s annual income is $57,613, how much does he or she spend in a year? That?s a harder figure to tie down, but I?d be willing to bet it is less than $57,613, suggesting that Bermuda residents may have a healthy saving rate. Their American counterparts do not: in 2005, spending in the US was 101.7 percent of income.

I could not close without a tip of the titfer (a British term, meaning a pat on the back) to the Department of Statistics. The quality and consistency of the Department?s output is a credit to Bermuda.

What do all these statistics mean? That would depend on whether you see the glass as half full, or half empty. Two things are for sure.

Bermuda?s population includes some extraordinarily high earners, probably a greater percentage of them than in many other countries. Their income boosts the averages more than the low income of the Island?s homeless drags them down. So don?t beat yourself up if you?re not making 1,100 bucks a week.

And finally, if the average Bermuda resident is pulling down $57,000-plus and spending less than that, it?s no wonder Bermudians are such friendly people.