Bermuda's economy might be showing signs of growth but this improvement was due less to the reported vibrancy of the retail and construction sectors than to the job creation agenda of the Clinton Administration, Finance Minister Eugene Cox said yesterday.

Mr. Cox was responding to a ministerial statement that Dr. Grant Gibbons delivered in the House of Assembly on Friday.

At the time, Dr. Gibbons said the economy had begun to show signs of recovery.

He pointed to the rejuvenated construction and retail sector as key segments contributing to the economy's growth in the first quarter as well as good growth in international company incorporations.

Dr. Gibbons said the retail sector -- based on the $105.3 million worth of turn-over during the first quarter -- grew some 6.9 percent compared to the same period in 1995. When this figure was adjusted for inflation the result was still a 4.4 per cent increase.

Correspondingly, Bermudians purchased fewer goods overseas -- a decline of some 3.9 per cent --- which Dr. Gibbons said was probably linked to the ability of the retail sector to respond to the demands of the local economy.

Meanwhile, Dr. Gibbons said the construction industry was showing much improvement because of several major projects like the new senior school, expansion at the hospital and hotel refurbishment.

However Mr. Cox was hesitant to embrace these reasons fully because he said a good case could be made for saying that much of the recovery was due to outside forces.

"If you accept that most tourists come from the United States and you see that the Clinton Administration has claimed to have created some eight million jobs in four years, then it follows that it is the strength of the United States economy that is making us look good. I don't think we should be taking credit for that.'' As a consequence, Mr. Cox said that it was important to see just what the Tourism Ministry's figures were saying.

Mr. Dodwell has said that his Ministry's "Let Yourself Go'' advertising campaign is intended to bring at least 25,000 new guests to Bermuda this year.

Mr. Cox said he wanted to see if the Tourism department had recorded a proportional increase in first-time arrivals that would justify the statement that the 25,000 target was going to be met at the end of the year.

"I would rather see those figures so that we can measure any perceived gain against those figures,'' he said.

"It is better to do that than to put it down to the early start to the cruise ship season.'' Moreover, Mr. Cox said the trend towards foreigners from the Philippines and other countries working in non-skilled or semi-skilled jobs was a disturbing one especially since there had been a decrease in Bermudians going overseas to shop.

This decrease in overseas shopping was a good one, he said, but some employers were not rewarding this when it came to employment.

"When it comes to workers, especially in the lower echelons, (employers) are prepared to bring in any number of people whether their skills are needed or required.

"I think this is where we should be concerned because we are seeing a number of people working here using skills that are no more demanding than Bermudians can supply.

"The same criteria that employers use to encourage locals to shop from them instead of the greater market overseas, should also be applied to employers when it comes to the selection of workers.''