Progressive Labour Party MP Rolfe Commissiong said the Census statistics highlighted the issue of the “two Bermudas”.

He said: “They place in sharp contrast the growing chasm when it comes to racial disparity with respect to the income divide that is Bermuda today between black and white.

“It is important to note, however, that these trends are not new. What is surprising is that we are clearly going in the wrong direction.

“We are not closing the gap, but rather witnessing it increasing as income inequality in Bermuda continues to expand.”

Mr Commissiong said the decline reflected a “post-recession environment” and the consequences of austerity measures by the OBA.

He said the Government was implementing measures to address the disparity, such as a policy announced in the Budget to use 20 per cent of capital spending to promote equality of opportunity with regard to disability, gender and race.

Mr Commissiong said: “The recent decision to enact an affirmative-action policy by the Government when it comes to procurement is welcome and long overdue.

“Black Bermudian-owned businesses, along with those in the categories of 'gender' and 'disabilities', will be able to access the opportunity to obtain a share of the estimated $150 million the Government annually spends on good and services locally.

“As it stands, it is estimated more than 80 per cent of those contracts go to white-owned and/or dominated companies and have been for decades.”

Mr Commissiong, the chairman of the living wage committee, added: “It has been no secret that outside of the low-cost foreign workers who are earning the lowest — in some cases poverty-level wages in Bermuda — it has been mostly black Bermudians who have shared in bearing the cost of that burden.

“Our work, which is near completion, ahead of the tabling and discussion of the final report in the House of Assembly, will propose recommendations that will enhance the pay and conditions which have marginalised Bermudian, particularly non-college educated, black Bermudian workers.”

He said the committee's work was not race-specific, but statistics showed black Bermudians had been disproportionately affected by the island's economic challenges.