Bermuda-Observations on Race

[DC]

<span style="font-style: italic">By Ruth O'Kelly-Lynch
When it comes to race and earnings Professor Ronald Mincy's study made a number of observations. Here is a sample of statements taken from various points in the 222-page report: </span>

<span style="font-size: 11pt"><span style="color: #000066">*&quot;Employers may be reluctant to hire many black Bermudian males or offer them lower wages than other workers, because they display the same soft skill deficits that reduce the employability of less-educated black males in the US. By soft skills we mean they are less punctual, exhibit poorer workplace attitudes, are less able to work as members of a team, and more likely to violate (written and unwritten) rules than their same age peers. These soft-skill deficits could also be related to the same behaviours that inhibited their performance in school. <span style="font-weight: bold">If soft skills are the problem, exposing young black Bermudian men to the expectations of the workplace earlier in their development must be part of the effort to reduce unemployment and earnings gaps between them and their same age peers.&quot; </span></span></span>

....and this is the proposed resolution?

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[DC]

Re: Bermuda-Observations on Race

<span style="font-style: italic">Another observation.....</span>

* &quot;However, tackling discrimination and occupational segregation may not be enough, because unemployment and earnings gaps between young white and black Bermudian men may reflect other productivity-related characteristics associated with race, but not measured by the Census.

These characteristics may be related to the sense of disappointment in young black Bermudian men we hear from educators, statisticians, policymakers and youth-service workers in Bermuda.

<span style="color: #000099">&quot;Too many young black Bermudian men appear to be taking less than full advantage of the opportunities available to them. They do not apply themselves as diligently as young black Bermudian women in secondary school. Fewer black Bermudian men go college, while many young black Bermudian women do, often while working. Some observers also believe that lower academic achievement among black Bermudian men produces wider gaps in the occupational status and world views of young black Bermudian men and women. These gaps may contribute to the decline in marriage rates among young black Bermudians and the consequent increase in black Bermudian female-headed families.&quot; </span>