Twenty‑one recommendations aimed at revamping Bahrain’s labour market framework, boosting employment efficiency and narrowing the gap between job vacancies and actual placements are set to be debated during Parliament’s session on Tuesday.
The proposals were put forward by the Labour Affairs Investigation Committee, chaired by MP Jalila Al Sayed, and will be discussed with Labour and Legal Affairs Minister Yousif Khalaf.
They focus on addressing structural weaknesses in the employment system, strengthening data transparency and modernising the National Employment Platform through digital and analytical tools, including artificial intelligence.
The committee’s recommendations are as follows:
- Obligating the Labour Ministry to conduct a detailed study of structural challenges behind the underutilisation of job vacancies and propose practical solutions to address more than 59,000 unfilled positions between 2023 and 2025.
- Establishing a proactive monitoring mechanism to analyse incoming job vacancies and ensure immediate utilisation, preventing recurring vacancy backlogs.
- Introducing an annual statistical indicator measuring the actual employment rate to bridge the gap between advertised vacancies and filled positions, with a published national employment report.
- Integrating artificial intelligence across all stages of the National Employment Platform to enhance efficiency and matching accuracy.
- Forming competent administrative committees within three months of expiry of any existing grievance bodies to avoid legal or administrative vacuums.
- Creating a ‘job turnover index’ to measure workforce stability, including tracking reasons for resignation or dismissal in the private sector.
- Setting a minimum occupancy rate of not less than 70pc of available positions as a benchmark for evaluating employment effectiveness.
- Strengthening governance of grievance procedures to ensure adequate review time and prevent repeated administrative errors.
- Activating a mandatory warning system after the first refusal of suitable job offers.
- Linking grievance outcomes with the issuing departments to create a continuous improvement system based on data analysis.
- Issuing and publishing a simplified public guide explaining eligibility criteria for compensation and unemployment benefits and grounds for forfeiture.
- Developing an improved electronic matching algorithm linking academic qualifications with job requirements, especially for first-time jobseekers.
- Intensifying inspection of establishments to prevent artificial or unstable job vacancies and ensure genuine employment opportunities.
- Redesigning the National Employment Platform search engine based on international best practice standards.
- Publishing detailed statistical indicators on unemployment benefits, suspensions, reinstatements, forfeitures, and appeals in real time.
- Ensuring regular publication of comprehensive employment and compensation statistics to enhance transparency and oversight.
- Adopting administrative instructions issued by grievance bodies as a standard framework to avoid repeated decision errors.
- Strengthening employment opportunities for persons with disabilities, ensuring compliance with legal quotas in establishments with 50 or more employees.
- Creating a dedicated employment pathway and tracking system for persons with disabilities within the National Employment Platform.
- Completing full electronic integration between the Labour Ministry and the Social Insurance Authority to enable real-time data exchange.
- Expanding public awareness campaigns to inform jobseekers of their rights, duties and obligations under applicable labour laws.
Ms Al Sayed stressed that these recommendations aim to transform the labour market system from a reactive framework into a proactive, data-driven model that enhances efficiency, transparency and employment outcomes.
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