Labour Market Reform The National Employment Program, launched in 2019, comprised of four key initiatives: launching an awareness campaign to encourage citizens to register, hence improving labour market records, increasing unemployment compensation, increasing expatriate fees, and redesigning Tamkeen’s Training and Wage Support Program. A year later, the National Employment Program 2.0 was launched, offering wage support for Bahraini job seekers and new graduates registered with the Ministry of Labour for a period of up to 36 months. Under the Economic Recovery Plan in 2021, the Government launched initiatives to further empower Bahraini youth and facilitate their entry into the private sector. These measures have successfully led to the employment of 29,995 Bahrainis in 2022, surpassing the annual target of 20,000.The Ministry of Labour continues to explore different innovative ways to train Bahrainis and connect them with employers, including electronic job fairs; the launch of a digital portal for job seekers; the provision of professional training and career guidance; and apprenticeship programs.
The Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA) is responsible for regulating expatriate employment with the aim of maintaining an organized labour market that meets the needs of its users, preserves the rights of all its parties, achieves social security, and ensures economic growth. Key protections available to expatriate employees include the establishment of the Wage Protection System, that went into effect in May 2021, which gives the LMRA visibility to monitor the payment of salaries to employees, and the establishment of the ‘Expat Protection Center’, a central hub curated towards providing services to expatriate employees, which includes a legal clinic to provide legal support and assistance in filing cases, passport retrieval services, and a shelter for victims and potential victims of human trafficking.
Tamkeen
Bahrain’s Labour fund, Tamkeen, has a dual mandate of making the private sector the key driver of economic growth and making Bahrainis the employees of choice. On the human development support programs front, Tamkeen prioritizes programs that lead to employment, skills, and career development for Bahrainis. Programs include: the Mid-Career & Executive Leadership program which provides wage subsidies to hire and promote experienced Bahrainis; the Global-Ready Entrepreneur program which covers 70 percent of the cost of participating in reputable overseas structured entrepreneurial programs; and the Train and Grow program, which provides financial support to enterprises to facilitate training and wage increments for their Bahraini employees.