Shadow Labour Minister Mr. Alex Scott said his party had conducted research that showed Bermudians losing jobs to foreigners in key sectors of the work force.

And he criticised Smith's president Mr. Roger Davidson and former Bank of Bermuda head Mr. Donald Lines for statements which he said showed favour to the hiring non-Bermudians.

But last night Labour Minister the Hon. J. Irving Pearman poured scorn on Mr.

Scott's Wednesday statement which called for workplace protection of Bermudians.

He said Mr. Scott's statement showed no awareness of well-publicised Government initiatives to support Bermudians in the workplace.

"I find it hard to believe a person in Mr. Alex Scott's position so lacks awareness of what is going on in the real world,'' Mr. Pearman said.

Statistics highlighted in Mr. Scott's report showed that there were 149 Bermudians working as mechanics in 1993 compared to 247 Bermudians ten years ago. The number of non-Bermudian mechanics, meanwhile, fell to 64 in 1993 compared to 72 in 1983.

Mr. Scott concluded that 98 Bermudians lost their jobs in the mechanics field compared to only eight non-Bermudians over the same period.

A similar trend was seen in the beauty business where Bermudians outnumbered non Bermudians -- 118 to 83 -- in 1983 only to see that ratio reversed by 1993.

In a statement released last night, Mr. Pearman explained that Bermuda was experiencing a "fairly rapid disappearance of skilled Bermudian tradesmen of all types from the job market.

"The reason there is a net loss of Bermudians is that there are no young, newly-qualified Bermudians replacing those leaving.'' Mr. Pearman said he had no doubt that the closure of the Technical Institute some years ago left a gap in the technical education of Bermudians.

"There is no easy access for young people of school leaving age to training and qualification in skilled, non-professional work,'' he said.

Mr. Pearman added that many skilled Bermudian tradesmen were disappearing from the job market since many had reached retirement age. Others, he said, had taken jobs in other sectors while some workers had been promoted to managerial positions.

"Some, especially those who worked in the construction industry, have been displaced by the recession and by the end of the construction boom of the 1980s.'' Mr. Pearman said government was tackling the problem in two ways.

The first involved retraining and development programmes for those who are unemployed. These programmes will encourage them to acquire skills in job areas that are needed in the job market, while at the same time providing support in the form of social assistance.

Secondly, he said he asked Government to return the apprenticeship and training council to his Ministry so it could be monitored and help those young school leavers who do not continue their education, to acquire the necessary skills.

Mr. Pearman pointed out that his Ministry had no intention of swaying from their principle that if a qualified Bermudian was willing and able to do a job, then no non-Bermudian would be granted a work permit to do that job.