Manama Bahrain’s labour minister on Wednesday said that up to 11,000 jobs were available in the country.
“According to the data we have, there are between 8,000 and 11,000 vacancies,” Jameel Humaidan said.
Teams of labour experts regularly check the market to locate vacancies and update the data that could be used by job seekers, he said.
Construction, SMEs
“We seek to address the non-readiness of Bahrainis to take up jobs in certain sectors, such as construction, or in small or medium establishments,” he said. “We try to make such places more attractive through a positive setting and reasonable salaries.
Bahrainis should appreciate that such places are increasingly good options,” he said.
Bahrain has taken steps to tackle its unemployment problem and has brought down its jobless rate from 16 per cent in 2002 to around 3.8 in the last few years.
The key project was the establishment of the Unemployment Insurance System (UIS), a unique feature in the Arab world.
The system allows unemployed citizens, who are registered with the ministry, to receive financial assistance for six months based on their qualification and experience.
During the period, they have to look for a job with the help of the ministry and in some cases they join a training programme. More than 13,000 job seekers have found employment through the project.
