Labour Ministry Shifts Focus from Benefits to Training

TDT | Manama
Email : editor@newsofbahrain.com

Training rather than benefits has become the Labour Ministry’s preferred method of tackling unemployment, as most of Bahrain’s jobseekers enter the market with little to no experience.

Last year, 12,033 jobseekers joined training schemes backed by the Labour Fund, Tamkeen. Some were placed in firms through the ‘Furas’ programme, while others attended targeted courses or short stints to improve their chances.

A further 7,800 people — ranging from employees to students and small business owners — also took part, bringing the total number trained in 2024 to just under 20,000.

Parliamentary Question
The figures were shared by Acting Labour Minister and Minister for Legal Affairs, His Excellency Yousef Khalaf, in reply to a parliamentary question from MP Hassan Bukhamas.

He said that out of 17,402 registered jobseekers in 2024, around 93 per cent had either never held a job or worked for less than a year. Women made up the majority, with 12,196 names on the list compared to 5,206 men.

Most of those seeking work held university degrees — 10,325 in all. The most common were in management, marketing, and human resources (1,455), followed closely by accounting and finance (1,443). Others had studied law, Sharia, social sciences, medicine, engineering, teaching, computing, and languages.

Training
One jobseeker had trained in special education and learning difficulties.

Another 6,153 applicants held only a secondary school qualification or less, and 924 had diplomas.

Khalaf said no jobseeker’s file is ever closed. Once someone is registered, their record remains active until they find work. Even if they stop receiving benefits, they stay on the ministry’s books and are counted in unemployment figures.

Payments
Some have lost their payments.

In 2024, 3,462 people were removed from the register. Just over 1,500 failed to check in online as required. Another 823 either turned down jobs, missed interviews, or refused to sign job offers they had previously accepted. A further 963 refused training. The final group — 1,043 in total — had not applied for any job or course in a three-month stretch.

The ministry’s figures paint a picture of a labour market shaped by first-timers and recent graduates, with the state now focusing more on hands-on training than cash allowances.