Employers and unions have welcomed new moves by Government to introduce unemployment insurance.

Finance Minister Paula Cox said this week that unemployment assistance will be rolled out towards the end of next year, although she stressed Bermuda had relatively low unemployment levels of 2.1 percent last year.

She said the benefit will be temporary and there will be a close link to job search and retraining services.

Bermuda Employers Council president William DeSilva, Jr, said: ?We are not against unemployment insurance in principle.?

But he said any fund would need careful auditing to check administrators and claimants weren?t fiddling it.

An insurance company rather than Government should run the fund, said Mr. DeSilva, who said benefits should not be equivalent to full pay but resemble half pay or slightly more to make sure people didn?t rely on it.

And he supported the concept of matching jobless workers to current vacancies by making sure they got appropriate training.

The unemployment insurance idea was floated by Government nearly three years ago but little has been heard since, said Mr. DeSilva, who was looking forward to the consultation promised by Ms Cox.

Bermuda Industrial Union president Derrick Burgess said a fund was needed despite Bermuda having virtual full employment because people in seasonal jobs like hotels often found themselves out of work for weeks at at time.

He said: ?Financial Assistance is created in such a way you almost have to have nothing in order to qualify. Unemployment insurance doesn?t work that way.?

Mr. Burgess said many jurisdictions had a time limit on pay-outs which stopped after 26 weeks.

?Maybe it will be 12 weeks or less. I don?t know anyone in Bermuda who is off for 26 weeks,? he said.