Gudaibia Palace: The employment figures have been on the rise since January 2015 as statics showed the number of recruited national job-seekers had soared to 6,952, including employed in March.
The session was also briefed, through a memorandum presented by the Labour Minister, on the labour market’s indicators for the first quarter of 2015, according to Information Affairs Minister, Isa Abdulrahman Al Hammadi.
Addressing the post cabinet meeting press briefing at Gudaibia Palace he said figures also indicated that a total of 2,317 Bahrainis are employed every month in 2015, while the monthly average was about 2,000 in 2014.
Meanwhile, the unemployment rate was 3.6% in the first quarter of this year, with the number of unemployed at 6,943 while 4,674 jobs are on offer.
“Employing Bahraini youth and assisting them have always been a top priority for the government,” he said, adding that in job creation Tamkeen and Bahrain Development Bank (BDB) have been playing a pivotal role in addition to supporting the SMEs and start-up businesses.
He said employment in the public or private sector is not the only option for the graduates as Bahrain has successful experiences in entrepreneurship. He added advanced programmes by many institutions, including Tamkeen and BDB, enable young Bahrainis to launch their private business, contribute to their training and provide them with good employment opportunities.
The minister urged the Bahraini youth to take advantage of available opportunities to launch their private projects and avail of the assistance provided by many centres for nascent ventures.
Concerning services projects for northern villages, the minister revealed that a memo had been discussed by the Cabinet today on the outcome of a recent visit by the Youth and Sport Minister Hesham Al Jowder to the northern region in line with the directives of HRH the Premier. He noted that all requirements would be finalised to boost the infrastructure in those villages by carrying out projects.
The minister pointed out that the achievement rate in the previous government work programme ranges between 82 and 83%. He emphasised the important role of the National Audit Office in financial auditing and rationalising expenditure.
He affirmed that the Government agencies were working with full capacity to carry out various projects, including mainly in the services sector, pointing out that many energy projects are in the pipeline to benefit citizens. Regarding stalled real estate projects, he asserted that the next phase would witness a better organisation of the sector to protect the rights of the investors and beneficiaries.