A BD1.7 million ($4.4 million) project that involves creating a national database to help tackle unemployment has been launched.

The Labour Market Observatory (LMO) will contain information on jobseekers and the labour market, identifying any skills gaps and training requirements for available positions, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

Work will start in February and should take 26 months to complete.

"The project will make it easy for the relevant decision-makers to strike a balance between job demand and labour market needs," Labour Ministry's Human Resources Development director Essam Ismail Alalawi told the GDN.

"The LMO's objective is also to project future requirements of the labour market, which will help parents and students to make the right choices regarding their higher studies.

"The observatory will also allow higher education establishments to prepare the educational, academic and practical programmes that will suit labour market requirements - and in turn reduce the unemployment rate in the country."

Alalawi was speaking to the GDN on the sidelines of the LMO contract signing yesterday at the Labour Ministry, in Isa Town.

UK-based company Tribal has been awarded the contract for the five-phase project.

Labour Minister Jameel Humiadan and Tribal managing director Janet Tomlinson signed the contract in the presence of Tamkeen's chairman and acting chief executive Shaikh Mohammed bin Essa Al Khalifa, Labour Ministry Under-Secretary Sabah Al Dossary, Tribal business development director Simon Peters and other officials.

"The project, which is part of Bahrain's Economic Vision 2030, aims to streamline all data related to the labour market, which now lies scattered among various government entities," Humaidan told the GDN.

"The gap lies in the outcome of education and training and the actual requirement of the labour market in the country.

"The national efforts are commendable, but we need to have a system in place that will streamline these efforts so that we have one integrated platform.

"The LMO is the ministry's first step to make sure that we have such a system adapted into our organisation as a government.

"It will collect information that will help to identify and analyse trends and challenges and come up with permanent solutions by adapting recommendations into policy-making, training and the higher education strategic planning levels."

Peters said the groundwork had already been done for the project, which would help Bahrain plan ahead with its labour market strategy.

"Many nations today are looking ahead and thinking about the big technological changes that lie ahead," said Peters.

"These changes can have drastic impact on certain industries, which may no longer survive in the long run.

"So we need to get an understanding of the current situation and then plan - it is important that we look ahead while planning and perhaps this is one big gap that we identified."

He said the LMO would consider key indicators to predict future job opportunities and labour market needs, adding that it could also identify jobs currently dominated by expats that Bahrainis could be trained in.

"There are a number of sectors in Bahrain which are currently served by expat workers, into which Bahrainis could be moved," he explained.

"It is important that Bahrainis are given the opportunity to move into these sectors and supported with the necessary skills.

"The efforts needed are to be more systematic, which will also be part of our project."

Ministry staff will be trained on how to operate the database, but the licence for the system will have to be renewed every two years. The next phase of the project includes the formation of a steering committee that will include representatives from the Labour and Industry and Commerce ministries, the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry, High Council for Vocational Training, Economic Development Board, Tamkeen, Labour Market Regulatory Authority, Higher Education Council, Central Informatics Organisation and Social Insurance Organisation.

The GDN reported yesterday (November 17) that Bahrain's unemployment rate was currently steady at 3.6 per cent. - TradeArabia News Service