Getting Bermudians back to work should be this country’s “main priority”, a trade unionist told a forum last night.Jason Hayward, 1st Vice President of the Bermuda Public Services Union said the Island’s unemployment figures are “extremely concerning”.Citing the 36 percent unemployment rate for young adults between the age of 16 to 24, Mr Hayward said: “One in every three people in that group cannot find employment.Close to 200 residents filled the Dr EF Gordon Memorial Hall last night to hear panellists speak on ‘How the Economy is Affecting Bermudians’.Mr Hayward said: “Short term solutions is the path Government is heading down by making jobs available by reducing the supply of foreign labour through work permit moratoriums and short term training programme initiatives.“I propose that the long term plan should focus on education as a person’s ability to be gainfully employed is directly related to their educational attainment. Investment in human capital increases productivity,” he said.“People always say when American sneezes Bermuda catches a cold, in this case Bermuda caught pneumonia. People are suffering, people who used to work two and three jobs are now struggling to land an interview.“Bermudians in stable jobs are finding that their incomes are being reduced, those with less stable jobs are at risk of being made redundant.“Those who have been made redundant find themselves in a job paying much less than when they left the workforce.”Bermuda College lecturer and economist Craig Simmons focused on the issue of equality.“Bermuda is arguably more unequal today than it was at the start of the 20th century, that’s true for the US, the UK, Bermuda and quite a few OECD countries.“Back in those days if you talked about organising yourself into a labour union you ended up in concrete shoes at the bottom of the Hudson River, if you lived in New York City.“We’ve come a long way but having said that we seem to be right back where we were at the start of the 20th century.“In the 1980s the wind started to blow in the opposite direction. Graduation rates started to fall, and since the mid 1990s we lost the vigour with which we chased education, there’s politics involved as well,” he said.“I’m not going to start loading up on politicians but they are not known to be people of the highest integrity. Depending on who’s paying the bill they tend to do a certain kind of dance.“There’s two things we as a people can do, one is to make sure and get ourselves educated and the second is that we hold our politicians accountable.“But there is a problem with education in this country. We don’t give it the care that it deserves. Malcolm X said it, ‘education is our passport to the future’. Sending your children to school is not a babysitting service, it will determine their future.“We’ve got to take this education thing seriously whether or not we choose to continue with public education or private, we’ve got to make it so that as many people in this country can succeed.“In order to have sustained economic growth we need as many of our children because poor people have just as smart people as rich people.“I’m a gambling man and I’ll gamble on the large number, I’m not going to gamble on the elite. We have to get as many people involved in a real way not just as servants but as managers.“We also need a tripartite effort between our Government, our unions and our employers. This is something that should have been done 400 years ago and its unfortunate that its taken a recession for us to think maybe this is a good idea,” said Mr Simmons.“We’ve got to stop knee jerk reactions and think long term, more inclusion, better education, these are the things that will take us through the recession.”Progressive Labour Party candidate Walton Brown urged the audience to “respect the seriousness of the crisis and not politicise it to get real solutions”.He noted that technology has also “changed the nature of work which has reduced the number of jobs available”.“The Bank of Bermuda, now HSBC applied new technology, that’s what companies to, they outsource.“That’s why when you call HSBC to ask for your credit limit you speak to someone in the Philippines because its more cost effective; its not a conspiracy, its business,” he said.“Enhancing shareholder value has a damaging impact on people when it means cutting jobs. And you’re going to see it happen to more and more people as time goes on, that’s the reality that we have to face, and we need to find a way to address it.”Bermuda Industrial Union President Chris Furbert asked the audience to think about the quality of life for Bermudians once the recession is done.“We have to make sure that Bermudians are gainfully employed in their own country. Hotel workers are the lowest paid workers in this country, they’ve been on a wage freeze since 2008.“Things continue to rise whether its rent and certainly food. In 2000 a loaf of bread was $3.05, in 2010 it was $5.01, an increase of $1.96 or 54 percent.“A five pound box of chicken was $5.43 in 2001, in 2010 it went to $10.91, a 101 percent increase. Electricity, in 2000, 560 kilowatts cost you $138.40, in 2010 it was $255.38, an 84 percent increase.And he raised the issue of escalating health insurance premiums. “All you hear is that the rates are going up, the insurance companies didn’t get the email that there’s a recession going on,” he said.Child Caregiver Rhonda Neil said: “The emotional stress that people are living under is extreme.“We have no idea what’s around the corner, when will this end, what our future will be, whether we will be able to keep a roof over our head or even afford to feed our families.“These are everyday questions facing families most affected and these are indeed some difficult times for us all, whether you’ve been laid off or not.”She noted that stress affects eating and sleeping habits, it also affects children. “High stress levels can lead to increased domestic violence including child abuse.“Families have to do what suits their personal situation and know that what works for the Smith family or the Jones family may not work for your family.”Her advice to unemployed parents was to spend extra time with their children. “It will pay you handsomely, emotionally,” she said.“Now’s a good time to utilise those baking, cooking, hairstyling or painting skills, or even gardening because food is one of our highest costs these days. Always remember the positive people in your lives and always support each other.”