HAMILTON, Bermuda (CMC):

Premier Ewart Brown has described as 'a recipe for societal disaster' a new study that found that more than half of young black males enrolled in Bermuda's public education system quit school before attaining a secondary school certificate.

"In a knowledge-based economy as we are, that's a recipe for societal disaster. In Bermuda, black men are disproportionately concentrated in industries that pay less. Black men, therefore, earn disproportionately less than any other group within our society," he warned.

The 222-page study by Columbia University professor Ronald Mincy also found that black Bermudian males have higher unemployment rates, lower earnings, and lower employment rates in high-paying industries than white Bermudian males.

Bermuda's 65,000 population is 60 per cent black and 40 per cent white.

The study, entitled 'On the Wall or on the Margins? A study of employment, earnings and educational attainment gaps between young black males and their same age peers' noted that at one un-named public school the graduating class had 52 males in May compared to 111 when the term started.

Fewer blacks in schools

The study also found that black Bermudian male teenagers were less likely to be enrolled in school than their white male peers, and black males aged 19 to 30 had less educational attainment than both black Bermudian females and white Bermudian males.

"Black Bermudian children are less likely than white Bermudian children to be raised in married families, and marital status is positively associated with enrolment among teenagers and educational attainment among young adults," the study said.

Not reaching potential

Prime Minister Ewart Brown said that the study highlights the fact that too many young black men were not reaching their potential.

He said: "The days when we can simply say that Michael likes to work with his hands and is not academically inclined, are over. As Professor Mincy has said to us repeatedly, even doctors work with their hands.

"Their potential must be realised, for them as individuals, and for the whole community. We can no longer afford to squander that potential. We have all seen the consequences of that approach for far too long."