February 3, 2013Dear Sir,Term limits did make Bermudians more competitive in an indirect way, but given the competitive nature of international business there are other, more effective, means of building up the Bermudian workforce. Just my two cents. Knowledge is power, as the saying goes. It would be great to have more information easily accessible to the public, particularly in order to facilitate people making a considered decision to pursue qualifications for a particular field. For example, for each and every work permit the details such as job description, qualifications and experience required, as well as salary (range) and expected termination of the permit, should be placed on a list, sortable by industry, etc, that could be accessed directly online with data going back at least fie to ten years. The name of the business or individual that requires an employee would not need to be disclosed, unless voluntarily, and certainly not for the recipient of the work permit.Currently Government provides little oversight for the process of advertising and the quality of Bermudians who have applied for a position, the onus is on the individuals applying. We acknowledge that favouritism towards the non-Bermudian does sometimes occur, only debating the extent to which it occurs. Another common activity is to offer a position at a low salary that no Bermudian given the amount & type of work involved would readily accept to maintain the high cost of living on the island.By refraining from allowing work permits for positions where there are a designated number of qualified Bermudians available and registered (unemployed or underemployed) may increase the cost of doing business in order to attract Bermudians, but could be balanced out by the number of locals employed in these positions. Also, rather than using an arbitrary number of years, a procedure could be considered whereby a work permit is terminated, after giving a comfortable notice period to all parties involved, if there are more than a designated number of Bermudians qualified for a position & registered, including contact information, with Government.PAUL BASDENSt George’s