Over 14,000 Bahrainis employed during first half of 2023: Labour Minister

Agencies | Manama                                   

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain Labour Minister and Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA) chairman Jameel bin Mohammad Ali Humaidan affirmed the government led by His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister is continuing to accelerate the rate of employment of Bahrainis in various private sector establishments.

This is done by attracting more job-generating investments, enhancing the work environment, diversifying training and qualification policies, and providing many advantages and incentives for the private sector so that Bahrainis will be the first choice for recruitment in the labor market, the minister said.

The minister’s statement came during the Cabinet review of labor market indicators in the second quarter of 2023 where he underlined that 14,163 have been employed between January and June at the rate of 71% within the economic recovery plan, which amounts to 20,000 hiring operations annually, stressing that this reflects the stability of the labour market and its growth towards generating more jobs in various productive sectors.

Humaidan said that the number of citizens benefiting from various training programs reached 7,237 trainees, which constitutes 72% of the declared goal of training 10,000 Bahrainis annually as part of the Economic Recovery Plan.

This includes beneficiaries from programmes offered by the Labour Ministry in cooperation with the Labor Fund (Tamkeen), in addition to training programmes where business owners and individuals  registered directly with Tamkeen, as well as training courses funded by business owners for their employees directly with training institutes.

The Labour Minister noted that inspection campaigns were intensified to correct the conditions of foreign workers within the registered employment system, and he indicated that the campaigns would continue in cooperation with the relevant government agencies, praising the ongoing cooperation with the Interior Ministry.

On wages of citizens working in the private sector, Humaidan Saud that wages witnessed an increase of 6.3%, especially after the launch of several initiatives aimed at increasing the wage support and improving the level of wages of new employees in the private sector. He pointed that the higher wages in the private sector contributed to attracting more citizens to work in the private sector, which is the main driver of the kingdom's economy.

Humaidan praised the cooperation of business owners with the Ministry's projects and programmes aimed at enhancing the integration of citizens seeking jobs in various private sector establishments.

He affirmed that investing in Bahrainis achieves more gains for companies and institutions, especially in light of the encouraging incentives offered by the government to the private sector to fully play its role in the national economy.

The Labour Ministry will publish an announcement in the local newspapers of the names of the companies and institutions contributing the most to the employment of Bahrainis during the period from January to June 2023, and publish the full list of the names of the establishments and the number of employees in them on the Ministry's website.