A HEATED confrontation erupted between a government minister and a senior MP during debate over the unemployment rate in Bahrain.
Parliament first vice-chairman Abdulnabi Salman accused Labour and Social Development Minister Jameel Humaidan of misleading the public by presenting “sugar-coated statistics”.
The GDN reported on Saturday that the unemployment rate among Bahrainis stood at 4.3 per cent at the end of last year.
Latest statistics showed that by December last year a total of 8,399 Bahrainis were listed as unemployed under the Labour and Social Development Ministry, while 188,724 Bahrainis were either employed or self-employed.
“Stop the nonsense that is being spread about maintaining unemployment at around 4pc, everyone knows that the sugar-coated statistics are wrong and don’t represent the truth,” said Mr Salman during yesterday’s weekly parliament session.
“The World Bank said that Bahrain’s unemployment rate stood at 16pc in 2016 and today it is no less than 18pc with a surge in the population.
“How are the statistics being counted? One of the major telecommunications company has 61pc of its employees on temporary contracts, so does the ministry count them as employed or unemployed?”
However, Mr Humaidan hit back and said the MP was creating false accusations to fit his narrative – adding that legislators were not looking at the reality on the ground and the initiatives the ministry was taking to tackle the unemployment rate.
“The unemployment criteria is based on what MPs have drawn up in law and we are implementing this,” he said.
“However, when we clearly see someone is taking monthly unemployment allowance without actively looking for a job then we remove them from the list, but that is after we present them with several options that suit them.
“We have held seven career expos attended by 350 businesses and, I have invited you personally and hundreds to see how hundreds have been accepted into jobs in the private sector, so these initiatives are not bogus and are not held for international appeal.
Expos
“We have employed 24,000 Bahrainis through expos – come to me and I will give you all of the names.
“Also, self-employed doesn’t mean jobless, it means these people are working so they are counted in the statistics. However, the MP is insisting they are not, but internationally that’s the system used and Bahrain follows this.”
The minister’s response came amidst a major Bahrainisation drive spearheaded by the government to significantly increase the hiring of Bahrainis in the private sector.
Meanwhile, majority of MPs yesterday voted to remove comments made by Mr Salman about the Civil Service Bureau being “the source of trouble and chaos in the country”, which he made during last week’s session.
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