Government’s unemployment count of 1,121 people has been branded a “significant under representation” of those out of work across the Island.Opposition members believe the process in which the data was collected could have “flawed” the two-week unemployment register. The unemployed were asked to register electronically on the Government website, or in person at one of the registration stations. But critics believe Government should have been more proactive rather than waiting for those without jobs to volunteer their own information. The Opposition now hope that the collected data will be put to good use, but they are also questioning whether such a “one-off study” will make much difference.Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Kim Wilson revealed this week that 1,121 people had registered themselves as unemployed; 51 percent were men and 80 percent were black.Shadow Finance Minister Bob Richards said the Government’s data-collecting process was “flawed from the start”. He said: “You can’t expect people to come forward, put up their hand and say: ‘I’m unemployed’. Unemployment is always difficult to estimate, but the Government expected people to go to them instead of reaching out to them.“This figure can’t be seen as reliable. We don’t know what the real figure is, but we certainly sense that the figure is much larger. This figure is a significant under-representation.”Mr Richards, a One Bermuda Alliance MP, questioned why expatriates who have lost their jobs and left the Island had not been counted. He said: “We’re only talking about the number of Bermudians who are unemployed. In other countries the unemployment level doesn’t distinguish between nationals and those on work permits. It’s therefore an incompatible comparison. What about the hundreds of people Bermuda has sent home because they no longer have a job? If this figure is going to show us how weak the economy is, all unemployed people need to be considered.”Mr Richards also highlighted how the registration drive had not taken into account the many Bermudians who were now working fewer hours. He said Bermudians had traditionally worked multiple jobs but people were now suffering as second and third jobs were no longer available. Mr Richards said: “Bermuda also has a certain level of underemployment. People may still be working, but their income is a whole lot worse than it was.”Similar unemployment studies had to be carried out on a regular basis so that trends could be detected, he said. He does support the retraining and placements of Bermudians but warned that the people had to be interested in going.He said: “The unemployed are usually those who want to work but can’t find a job. But in Bermuda there’s also those who don’t want to work, the so-called wall sitters. No amount of retraining is going to be effective if your economy is not growing. The key is to get the economy growing by stimulating the growth in international business and tourism. These are the two engines we need to restart.”OBA Senator Craig Cannonier, who is spokesman for Economy, Trade and Industry, urged Government to “sit down and assess” what they were going to do with the unemployment figures.He said: “What is desperately needed is help to assist the unemployed. Without any action being taken, these figures will be irrelevant. We have to look where the volume of unemployment is; what industries have been worst hit and why. I’d be very interested to hear where these people have lost jobs; what categories of work. We then have to build those categories back up. Finding out who is only unemployed is only the start of the problem, we now have to fix things.”The Department of Statistics is to analyse the unemployment registration drive data and KPMG Advisory Limited will then assist with the development of “a clearly defined strategic and implementation plan”.Charlie Swan, the United Bermuda Party’s spokesman for Education, Labour and Training, said he did not believe the latest figure, saying it was not “a realistic picture of the true unemployment rate in Bermuda”.He added that a Labour Force Survey in February 2010 had found 1,714 people were unemployed 4.5 percent of the population. Mr Swan accused the Government of trying to create more of a “rosy picture”.He said: “Would all people respond to the announced initiative? How many Bermudians are out of work, but not seeking work because they have a decent severance package? Also how many Bermudians are on financial assistance and out of work but won’t respond to the initiative because they have financial assistance? Giving full data analysis will take another four weeks, then results of KPMG input produced, obtained then analysed ... it will be a while before we have any strategic plan and/or implementation of same.“While we applaud the Minister for undertaking this new registration drive, a clearly defined strategic and implementation plan should have been in place by now. “The more they say, the less they do. The Government has mismanaged our economy and people for years.”He added that from October 2009 the UBP had called on Government to “to take Bermuda’s economic situation seriously, and to get a grip of the reality of what was happening”.Ms Wilson did not respond to our requests for comment yesterday.