Ten percent of Bermudians entering the job market were unemployed in 2000, compared to a three percent unemployment rate overall, the Department of Statistics? Labour Force Trends report has shown.

And within that ten percent, there is a large disparity between the races.

The statistics, found in the May 2004 report, showed that the unemployment rate of Bermuda?s working persons aged 16-24 years was ten percent.

Among whites in that age group unemployment was four percent, or 38 young people searching for work, while among blacks it was 11 percent, or 278 searching for work.

Those numbers are down from 1991, however, when the Census showed that 16 percent of Bermuda?s young people were unemployed (20 percent of young black people and seven percent of young white people). Full and part-time students are excluded from both the 2000 and the 1991 figures.

?Reasons for the high rate of unemployment among able-bodied young people might vary from a lack of work experience or employment qualifications to an unwillingness to accept lower paying entry-level positions,? the report stated.

?However, given the significant disparity in the rate of unemployment between the races, this rationale may not apply equally to all young people.?

The 2000 Census also showed that the highest level of education received by nearly half the young people in the labour force was senior secondary school (49 percent).

?Another 30 percent were educated to the technical/vocational level, while the 714 that were schooled at the university level represented 19 percent.?

The largest share of those young people who were employed in 2000 occupied clerical positions (29 percent). One percent, or 49 young people, were in administrative and managerial positions.