The number of unemployed Bahrainis now stands at 4,231, Dr Al Alawi revealed in a presentation organised by the Bahrain Society for Training and Development at the InterContinental Regency Hotel.

He also revealed that 32,367 Bahrainis were trained by companies in the private sector last year.

"The private sector’s investment on training was about BD19.3 million last year and the total training hours registered were 1.1 million," he added.

NEP has achieved 77.6pc of its objectives, said Dr Al Alawi.

"Out of 18,931 registered, 14,700 were employed, including 4,700 who were trained last year.

Dr Al Alawi said his ministry’s campaign to upgra-de the skills of Bahrainis and improve their salary had also met with success.

"A large number of companies have already increas-ed the minimum salary of Bahraini workers to BD200."