Bermudians should set their career aims high to avoid being made redundant by technology, the managing partner of recruitment and professional services firm Expertise has advised.

According to Doug Soares, the long-term trend in Bermuda’s job market is that technology and automation will continue to reduce jobs in industrial, clerical and administrative sectors, but “professional, managerial and consultative jobs are less affected”.

He was responding to Opposition MP Rolfe Commissiong, who said a 2013 speech by Mr Soares had shown that 3,127 jobs were lost from the Bermudian economy since 2000 “largely due to the technological disruption unleashed by the advances in automation: 3D printing, artificial intelligence, robotics”.

Presenting a motion in the House of Assembly last month, the Progressive Labour Party politician urged Government to keep abreast of technology that is transforming Bermuda’s employment scene and will result in “the disappearance of more and more once secure and well paid white collar professions”.

While Mr Soares said that breaking the trend is impossible, he added that “we need to get as many Bermudians as possible into professional level positions” because these are less affected by technological advances and automation.

But he noted that these positions typically require a degree and that only one in five working age Bermudians hold such qualifications.

“Consequently we import to Bermuda approximately 5,000 degree holders,” Mr Soares said. Mr Soares would prefer Government to set national targets for improving the number of Bermudians obtaining degrees and to continue reforming the public education system to prepare students for further education.

While not producing results overnight, Mr Soares said significant progress can be expected over the next two to three decades “if we publish targets for tertiary education and solve the educational, social and parental problems which prevent greater numbers of Bermudian children from reaching their full potential”.

He added: “It’s a question of readying Bermudians with higher levels of education such that they can adapt and compete for jobs in a constantly changing and increasingly competitive job market.”

But according to Mr Soares, the downward trend in the job market caused by technological advances and automation will also result in job growth in sectors that inspire and create these.

“Whether we can attract some of those jobs to be based in Bermuda will depend on our willingness to invite the world’s greatest minds to live and work here,” he said.

“We will need to establish in Bermuda a critical mass of world-class talent — inventors, engineers and technologists — much in the same way as we did for reinsurance talent in the 1990s and 2000s.”

Mr Soares said this will require openness in respect of immigration policy which “is not an idea that is popular among many Bermudians”.

In his recommendations, Mr Commissiong also called for the establishment of a Government-wide task force to tackle the impact of technology on Bermuda’s workplaces and economy.

While Mr Soares said the Shadow Minister of Human Affairs’ idea is a good one, he added that people need to understand that Mr Commissiong is talking about a long-term solution.

“The financial hardship experienced over the past six or seven years has people focused on short-term problems so it may be difficult for many Bermudians to support long-term thinking at this time.

“However, talking about Bermuda being on the cutting edge of innovation in technology will appeal more to the one in five Bermudians with a degree.”