Bahrain’s Labour Ministry has launched a two-year graduate employment project, aiming to guarantee a minimum monthly wage of BD400 ($1,060) for Bahraini university graduates working in the private sector.

The project will be run in association with Tamkeen, but will also require the co-operation of private companies.

The project was launched during a Press conference at the Labour Ministry in Isa Town.

'This project is to help improve the standard of living for Bahraini people,' said Labour Minister Jameel Humaidan.

'We also want to increase the levels of equality among both university graduates currently working in the private sector and those graduates that will enter the sector in the future.

'The overall aim of the ministry is to use initiatives like this one to make the private sector more attractive to graduates and in doing so, energise Bahrain's economy.'

According to figures released by the ministry yesterday, there are 2,203 university graduates working in the private sector earning less than BD400 per month.

Of those, 400 receive between BD350 and BD400 per month, 1,450 make between BD250 and BD350 and the remaining 353 get less than BD250.

The ministry's wants to meet each of the private sector employers that pay their graduates less than BD400 in an effort to persuade them to increase their salaries.

Mr Humaidan said he was confident private businesses would back the initiative because of the increased productivity he feels the improved salaries would generate.

Should certain companies decline to support the scheme, however, a back-up plan has been put in place.

Individual workers at those companies will be identified by the ministry and enrolled in a special Tamkeen training programme.

The aim of this is to increase the skill levels and capabilities of workers in the hope that would subsequently be in a position to demand a higher salary.

The project will run alongside the Rehabilitation and Employment University Graduates Project, which was launched by the Labour Ministry in January last year.

The aim of that scheme, which will run until early next year, is to find employment for thousands of jobless Bahraini graduates. – TradeArabia News Service