A long-term strategy is in place to create quality job opportunities for citizens, a top official has said.
Acting Labour Minister and Legal Affairs Minister Yousif Khalaf reaffirmed the country’s commitment to implementing policies and initiatives aimed at developing the labour market.
Mr Khalaf, who is also the acting Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA) board chairman, highlighted the National Labour Market Plan (2023-2026), which focuses on fostering local and foreign investments to generate more high-value opportunities for citizens, while enhancing market regulation, oversight and legislative frameworks.
He was responding, in writing, to a question by MP Abdulwahid Abdulaziz Qarata on Bahrainisation plans.
“As per data from the Information and eGovernment Authority at the end of 2023, Bahrain’s unemployment rate stood at 6.3 per cent,” he said.
Mr Khalaf said the ministry continues to encourage jobless Bahrainis to register to access unemployment benefits.
“First-time job seekers or those with less than 12 months of employment are eligible for allowances, which is BD150 for non-degree holders and BD200 for degree holders. It will be provided for up to nine months,” he noted.
“Additionally, individuals who lose their jobs due to circumstances beyond their control are entitled to compensation at 60pc of their previous salary for up to nine months, with a maximum of BD1,000 per month.”
Meanwhile, 2,587 Bahraini jobseekers filed grievances following their removal or non-inclusion in insurance against unemployment payrolls from June until October last year. Out of them, 911 cases were approved following a review by a special grievances committee.
Mr Khalaf, who provided the statistics in writing to Parliament, said the grievances were divided into seven categories. A total of 334 Bahrainis presented reasons for leaving work voluntarily, 494 for missing the three-month deadline to register for grievances from the date of being released from work, 582 for missing job appointments, 368 for rejecting job opportunities, 332 for refusing training, 351 for failure to show interest in available jobs over three months, and 126 were miscellaneous.
Mr Khalaf said the ministry was monitoring the seriousness of jobseekers to ensure they are not benefiting from unemployment allowances while rejecting jobs.
“Continuous alerts are issued through e-mail and SMS, and people are struck off the unemployment insurance list if they snub repeated calls from employers to attend job interviews. They have the right to contest that decision through a grievance committee,” he added.
He also revealed that 16,978 Bahraini jobseekers were registered with the Labour Ministry until the end of 2023.
Of them, 10,057 were Bachelor’s or higher graduates (8,245 females and 1,812 males), 6,080 were secondary school graduates or lower (3,325 females and 2,755 males), and 841 were diploma holders (713 females and 128 males).
The 10,057 university jobseekers were from 12 specialisations; 1,473 accounting and financial business graduates, 1,413 business administration, human resources and marketing graduates, and 1,262 were legal affairs, law and Sharia graduates. The remaining were divided among nine other specialisations such as medical, tourism, design and Information Technology.
“We have identified 1,051 jobs, which could be taken up by Bahrainis, and whenever an employer asks for an expat permit from the LMRA to fill them up, an automatic alert is provided,” said Mr Khalaf.
“The ministry has also formed specialised teams to market Bahraini jobseekers for employers, making them aware about the lucrative deals they would get, whether incentives or allowances, when employing citizens,” he added.
Mr Khalaf pointed out that 29,995 Bahrainis were employed in 2022, which was a record.
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