Thomas Christopher Famous is a Bermuda based columnist who writes on political and social issues in Bermuda and the wider Caribbean. He has weekly columns in the following online publications; Bernews, Caribbean News Now, Today in Bermuda and The Royal Gazette. Photo: Provided

Bermudian academic qualifications. Image: Provided

Bermuda Median Income. Image: Provided

There are many in Bermuda and indeed worldwide who attempt to say that there is no disparity between the races. That they only difference is pigmentation or hair texture. Biologically this is true.

However, when it comes to Bermudian statistics, the numbers paint an entirely different story. In a Graph a taken from the 2010 census we can see the number of academic qualifications of both blacks and whites. Some will say that the correlation of academic ratios may very well go hand in hand with the black to white population ratios in Bermuda.

Let’s take a look at the numbers in higher education:-

• In the College certificate level there are over 9,000 blacks and less than 5,000 whites.
• In the Associates degree column we see 1,500 blacks with this degree whilst 750 whites have this same level of qualification.
• In the Bachelor’s degree column there are 3,000 Blacks with Bachelor’s degrees whilst 4,500 whites have the same level of degree.
• In the Master’s degree column we see and equal number of 1,500 blacks and 1,500 whites having achieved this level of degree.
• There are also an equal amount of blacks and whites with Doctorate degrees.

Apart from Bachelor’s degrees there are more qualified blacks than whites in Bermuda.

What these graphs clearly show is that thousands of black Bermudians went on to attain post-secondary higher degrees of university education thus dispelling the notion that blacks are not academically qualified.

Equal work for equal pay?

However, in graph B we see that no matter what the number of academically or technically qualified blacks there is a glowing and growing disparity in their economic compensation.

Prime examples:-

• In 2004 the median income for whites was approximately $60,000 whilst the median income for blacks was $43,000. This showed a difference between the two groupings of $17,000.    
• In 2014 the media income for whites was approximately $88,000 whilst the median income for blacks was at $48,000. This showed a difference between the two groupings of about $40,000.

This simply shows that in ten years the approximate median income disparity between blacks and whites in Bermuda has more than doubled from $17,000 in 2004 to $40,000 in 2014.

So some interesting questions are to be raised:-

• Do more blacks need to get higher university qualifications in order to close this gap?
• Are more whites than blacks in high paying IB positions?
• Are blacks receiving less pay for the same work?

Let me know your thoughts. Call or WhatsApp me on 441-599-0901 via email carib_pro@yahoo.com