Building trade workers are let down by a lack of skills that could have been learnt in high school, industry leaders claimed.

Simon Tully, the president of the Construction Association of Bermuda, and Will Irvine, its executive director, said it was important for people across the country to help the future workforce succeed.

Mr Irvine said: “We don’t need them to know trig, we need them to know algebra, basic math and accounting, employability skills.

“It’s what we’re teaching in our programme that we had hoped they had taken in high school.

“We need the community to recognise this is a challenge for our young men getting the skills they need for construction.

“We need the Ministry of Education to strongly support the programmes that will graduate them out and allow them to get straight into the workforce.”

He explained that the CAOB had talked to the education ministry about the expansion of technical programmes at the Berkeley Institute and CedarBridge Academy because “that’s our population, those are the guys that we want to walk straight out of high school and straight into college”.

Mr Irvine said: “Some people have tried to go off to university but a lot of families in that situation don’t have the finances to send their children off to tertiary education somewhere.

“We, as a country, are failing them with options if they need to remain here.

“Our view is that we need support not only from in our industry but across Bermuda to ensure we’re helping our population succeed because it’s a big part of what happens in Bermuda.”

The latest gross domestic product figures showed that the construction and quarrying industry group was the largest contributor to a 0.1 per cent growth in 2018.

The sector added $33.9 million in real terms, fuelled by major hotel and airport projects, as well as residential work.

International business generated more than one quarter of the island’s GDP and grew by $24.7 million.

Mr Tully warned that the figures for the building sector next year could show “a serious decline” partly due to the completion of large projects and the Caroline Bay development at Morgan’s Point “evaporating”.

Mr Irvine added: “I think there’s an ebb and flow ... I think it’s a mistake to disregard the construction industry as a workforce that doesn’t need attention.

“It’s a workforce that very much needs attention and can be a great contributor to the economy.

“We need to give this the same amount of attention and focus as it has the potential to impact Bermuda in significant ways.”

Mr Tully said some in the building sector who wanted to “better themselves” found that skills like long division and a “basic sense of decimal measurements” were problems.

He added: “Something is failing them in terms of their skill set. We need to reinforce the basics — reading, writing and arithmetic.

“We don’t just need the muscle, we need the guys to think for themselves.”

Mr Tully and Mr Irvine said they were “delighted” with participation in a pilot masonry training programme, which combines tutorials at Bermuda College and work experience, launched last year by the CAOB and the Department of Workforce Development.

Mr Irvine explained that the group — aged between their 20s and 50s — were recommended by their employers because they showed potential.

He said: “Everybody’s keen as mustard to participate in this because they do feel it’s a game changer for them.

“They know that changing their skill capabilities gives them an opportunity to diversify out of skilled labour.”

Mr Tully hoped the employers would acknowledge the efforts of those who took part.

He said: “It’s in our best interest for them to participate and have an example where they’re successful. If we can show that to others, this is the icebreaker. It’s kind of our groundswell opportunity but we also need that from industry — these guys succeeded, did they get an extra dollar an hour? Did you give him the opportunities?

“It would be very frustrating for somebody to think, I went through all this but I haven’t changed, I’m still that guy you want to go and pull nails.”

The training scheme, accredited by the National Centre for Construction Education and Research, was created in part as a response to the volume of foreign labour used in the trade. Masonry accounts for more than 300 work permits.

Mr Irvine said: “I really do think this is an opportunity for us. There are challenges, and we are going to work around all those challenges to make those guys be as successful as our current workforce, which is our ageing workforce.

“We are doing everything in our power to ensure that they’re successful in this programme.

“The challenge within the industry is that for two generations the local workforce has not been as good as we could get elsewhere.

“I think the emphasis has been on business only, and it needs to be on business and local development.”