Foreign worker employment in Bahrain continues to decline
The growth of foreign worker employment in Bahrain continues to decline, while more Bahrainis are being hired, latest statistics reveal.
Foreign worker employment increased by 44,750 during last year, reaching 462,139 at the end of the third quarter, according to the Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA) report.
However, the annual rate of increase continued to slow down to 10.7 per cent, compared to 16pc in the previous quarter.
The number of employed Bahrainis was 138,005 in the third quarter of last year, representing an annual growth of 2.4pc compared to the same quarter of 2008.
The total number of people employed in Bahrain at the end of the third quarter of last year was 600,143, representing an annual growth rate of 8.7pc.
Regarding pay, the LMRA report for the third quarter of this year showed that the average monthly wages of all workers had slightly decreased compared with the previous quarter at BD300 per month.
The labour cost gap between Bahraini and non-Bahraini workers in construction, trade, hotels, restaurants and small scale manufacturing reached BD225, representing a narrowing of the gap by BD40 per month compared with the third quarter of 2008.
Meanwhile, the LMRA issued 24,213 new work visas during the third quarter of last year, representing a continued decrease of 12.5pc, compared with the second quarter of last year, the report revealed.
The highest number of new work visas for regular workers continues to be in construction (29pc), followed by wholesale and retail trade (22pc) and manufacturing (16pc).
While the share of wholesale and retail trade remained unchanged, the share of construction and manufacturing dropped significantly from 31pc and 18pc last quarter to 29pc and 16pc in the third quarter.
The report also revealed that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) compiled by the Central Informatics Organisation (CIO) showed a slight increase of 0.3pc during the third quarter of last year.
The main sources of price increase remain food and beverage, health, communication, transportation, education and other personal care.