The unemployment which stood at 8.5 per cent in March fell to four per cent in April, especially because of career expos that have been held in different districts of Bahrain, Minister of Labour Dr Jameel Humadan said.
He said that the percentage was changing regularly as many join and leave the labour market, but efforts had been made to improve working conditions and privileges for local manpower.
Around 39,000 Bahrainis joined the labour market in the last four months as the number of local manpower reached 145,000 (excluding military staff), while it was 106,000 in December 2007.
Humadan said that the unemployment rate was drastically declining therefore the focus was to attract Bahrainis to join the private sector through improving salaries offered by companies.
The government is pushing for salary hike of 30 per cent for Bahraini private sector employees who are receiving wages from BD200 to BD400 to attract them to take private jobs. Around 20,000 Bahrainis get salaries ranging between BD200 and BD400, including 17,600 with secondary certificates and dropouts, 1,600 diploma-holders and 773 Bachelor’s degree holders.
Those employees will be provided with training to be entitled for increments.
The government is keen to change local manpower perspectives about private sector jobs as Bahrainis feel that public sector is much better when it comes to salaries and working conditions. Public sector couldn’t recruit all jobseekers therefore improving the conditions at private companies could eliminate unemployment.
