During a Cabinet session chaired by His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, the Labor and Social Development Minister and the Labour Market Regulatory Authority have revealed the latest data about Bahrain’s labor market. According to the statistics, the workforce in Bahrain in the Q2 2017 reached 763,618 people, a 1.2% increase from the same period last year.
The overall number of Bahraini workers in the public and private sector marked a 0.3% growth, to 157,261 people in the second half of the year. In addition to that, the number of foreign employees in the private sector was up to 4.7%, compared with the second half of last year.
The Labor Minister commented that the positive figures proved the stability of the Bahraini private sector as a leading force for economic growth and job creation. The Minister also highly valued the excellent cooperation between the Labor Fund Tamkeen, and the Labor and Social Development Ministry in the constant improving the employment sector in Bahrain. The minister pointed out that 10,990 job-seekers managed to start working in the private sector during the first six months of the year. The monthly average was 1,900 workers.
Nearly 3,400 unemployed people benefited from the national training programs during the first half of 2017, noted the minister, saying that it was a 125% increase compared to the same period last year. In addition to that, the unemployment rate remained at 4.2%, and the number of job-seekers was 8,470 in June.
The average salaries in the Kingdom marked a growth of 2.1% to reach BD 528 in the second half of the year. In the private sector, the average wage was BD 407, while in the public sector it was BD 691. The report has also revealed that 38% of the local population working in the private sector received more than BD500 a month, while only 8% received BD 250 per month. The Minister of Labor Humaidan highlighted the role of the HRH the Prime Minister in supporting all the initiatives encouraging Bahraini’s job-seekers to enter the labor market.