Four interns each paid around $50,000 a year are to be employed by Government in a new initiative aimed at giving young Bermudians a career jumpstart.

The new positions were announced by the Premier yesterday and will be within the Cabinet Office. They could begin within a month and will be for recent university graduates with an interest in pursuing a career in the public sector.

Graduates will be hired each fiscal year and will be compensated for a full-time workload, which Premier Ewart Brown estimated to be in the area of $50,000 each.

However, the Premier said the plan was so ambitious that rather than calling it an internship programme it will be called 'the Cabinet Office Career Jumpstart Programme.'

He said: "We've created this initiative because, too often, after graduating from college or university, Bermudian students return home seeking employment in their field of study but are not hired due to lack of experience.

"This Government is stepping in to fill the gap. We recognise the potential in our young people and we intend to help prepare them to become leaders through 'Jumpstart.'"

Coordinating the initiative are Acting Senior Government Training Manager Annette Eve and Policy Analyst Marisa Sharpe.

The graduates can expect to work in the service departments that make-up the Cabinet Office including the Management Services Department, the Department of Communications ad Information, the Department of Statistics, the Department of Human Resources, the Bermuda Archives, the Parliamentary Registrar and the Legislature.

Some days the interns will also work directly with the Office of the Premier.

Interns will be placed in areas that need their help and will also be floating among the departments, though never in the same areas and the length of their internships will vary.