‘One-year ban’ proposed on hiring expats in govt sector

Manama :

One-year ban has been proposed on hiring foreigners in the government sector by a parliamentarian.

MP Adel Al Asoomi made the proposal, which he says will empower Bahrainis to obtain good positions within the government sector.

The lawmaker pointed out that there is a need to increase the number of Bahrainis employed in the public sector. Earlier this year, members of the Parliament approved an urgent proposal that could result in complete Bahrainisation of government occupations within four years.

The proposal was presented during a parliament weekly session in March during which the Parliament and Shura Council Affairs Minister Ghanim Buainain stated that 85 per cent of public sector jobs were already occupied by Bahrainis. The government has taken many measures to improve Bahrainisation since the start of the year.

The National Employment Programme, which included launching an awareness campaign to encourage citizens to register in the employment scheme has been a great milestone. The four key initiatives within the National Employment Programme, includes, launching an awareness campaign to encourage citizens to register in the programme, amending the unemployment insurance draft law (78/2006) in order to increase compensation fees, increasing fees associated with the Parallel Bahrainisation System and the Flexible Work Permit and redesigning Tamkeen’s Training and Wage Support Programme.

A massive new career expo with more than 2,000 jobs up for grabs will be held next month. The Ministry of Labour and Social development will be organising the jobs fair, it was announced. The Undersecretary at the Ministry of Labour and Social Development, Sabah Al Dosari said that preparations have started to organise the jobs fair in December.

The event will be held at the Bahrain International Exhibition Centre. He said that thousands of job-seekers are expected to visit to apply for jobs. “There is going to be more than 2,000 vacancies and a large number of leading companies will be attending the event and interviewing and hiring job seekers. There will be vacancies in various different professional areas from companies belonging to different sectors,” he said. “Such events are part of the ministry’s efforts to reduce unemployment and to follow up on the National Employment Programme,” he said.