Bahrain’s employment growth creates record
Manama: Employment growth among Bahrainis in the first three months of 2016 reached a record 7 per cent, latest figures showed.
Labour and Social Development Minister and Labour Market Regulatory Authority Board Chairman Jameel Humaidan said in a statement issued yesterday that the national employment registered with the General Organisation for Social Insurance (GOSI) increased to 161, 000 Bahraini employees by March 2016, while 582,4000 non-Bahraini employment was registered in the same period.
This came during a presentation displayed by the minister during the previous weekly Cabinet meeting on Monday, showing the quarterly report of the ministry’s achievements.
Minister Humaidan noted that the total number of employees in the first quarter of 2016 was 743,290 with a 7pc increase in comparison with the same period in 2015, which witnessed the employment of 694,909 locals and expats.
“This growth comes in line with the Government Action Plan (GAP) and the efforts to create an investment environment and attract new investors, resulting in the demand on local and foreign workforce,” Humaidan stated.
He said the report proves the success of the ministry’s schemes to employ more Bahraini jobseekers.
Sustainable growth in
private sector employment
The minister also highlighted that the national employment in the private sector establishments continued to grow, reaching a record of 104,451 private sector employees including 5,083 Bahrainis working in the private institutions by the end of March, 2016.
“The private sector is now attracting Bahraini jobseekers more than ever. Sixty-five pc of national employment is the private sector, while the remaining 35pc are employed in government institutions,” Humaidan revealed.
The minister announced that the numbers of Bahrainis working in the private sector is expected to grow more, recalling a project launched by the Cabinet recently to employ 15,000 Bahrainis in private establishments between 2016 and 2018.
Humaidan said BD15 million has been allocated to support the project, which will train and rehabilitate Bahraini graduates and jobseekers. He added that the project offers incentives to employers in the private sector to recruit Bahraini candidates.
BD500 average wages
The ministry’s statistics showed a slight drop in the average salaries of Bahrainis, who received an average of BD519 in the first quarter of 2015, while it decreased by BD2 in the same period this year.
Specifying more, the figures showed that average salaries of Bahraini public sector employees reached BD685 this year with an increase of 1.8pc, while private sector employees’ wages average increased by 0.8 pc reaching to BD391.
75, 000 work permits renewed
Minister Humaidan confirmed that 75, 212 work permits were renewed in the first quarter of 2016, including 60, 179 workers’ permits, 656 investors permits, 134 permits for temporary employments and 14,243 dependent visas for non-Bahraini employers.
It was also announced that 27,574 work permits were terminated in the same period and that the majority of permits issued were for the constructions field.
The minister added that 6,602 mobility (local employment transfer) requests were completed in the first quarter of this year, with an increase of 11 pc.
“Ninety-eight pc of those requests were done with the approval of employers, while the remaining 2 pc were made without obtaining the approval of employers and it’s a natural rate comparing to the previous years,” he said.
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