Labour Affairs Minister Randolph Horton told MPs on Friday that Bermuda's youths were being hit by increasing unemployment - a worldwide problem.

Mr. Horton told the House of Assembly that youth employment was a central issue at this year's Session of the International Labour Organisation in Geneva, Switzerland.

He went on to say that despite the "first class education system" and "large pool of available jobs" many young Bermudians felt alienated and marginalised.

Youth unemployment can be a hard issue to deal with because it requires young people to feel they are being afforded the opportunity to be involved in economic opportunities

. Mr. Horton said that the Caribbean Employment Forum in Barbados this October will focus on the issue so that ideas can be shared and countries can commit to making employment central to their development strategies.

Mr. Horton also discussed his success in getting organisers of the Nobel Peace Prize Series of Lectures on Youth to consider including Bermuda College as a video-link.

This year's lectures will take place at the University of West Indies in Jamaica.

The lectures will be transmitted to the UWI campuses in Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago and hopefully the Bermuda College. The last lecture series was last held in Japan in 2003 and academics from around the world use the forum to discuss labour related matters that impact their society.