BERMUDIANS make up a shrinking sector of the island's job market, according to Government figures released yesterday.

The report on the Department of Statistics 2003 Employment Survey showed the number of jobs held by Bermudians last year dropped by 376, or one per cent, compared to 2002.

And in the longer term, while the number of non-Bermudians holding jobs increased by 1,000 between 1999 and 2003, those posts held by Bermudians dipped by more than 1,300 in the same period.

The report said there were 37,686 jobs held in Bermuda in 2003 ? a drop of 129 from the previous year.

But the international business sector bucked the trend with a five per cent rise in total jobs from 3,587 in 2002 to 3,781 last year.

A breakdown of the figures showed there were 109 more posts filled by men, while there were 238 less held by women.

Fewer jobs were held by both blacks (down 337) and whites (down 69), while people of "mixed and other racial heritages" held 277 more jobs.

Government became two per cent bigger in 2003, as 86 more jobs were created in the public sector.

But the business services sector reported a three per cent decline in the number of jobs held from 3,872 to 3,756.

The longer-term figures clearly illustrate the decline of tourism and the strengthening of the international business and construction sectors.

In 2003, there were 2,981 hotel jobs, a drop of 813 since 1999. Over the same, four-year period, international business gained 526 jobs, while construction rose by 451 to a 2003 total of 2,959.