Her Excellency Mrs. Nouf Abdulrahman Jamsheer, Chief Executive Officer for the Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA), announced an all-encompassing increase in the number of transactions completed during the first quarter of 2023 reaching 388,375 transactions, which reflects an increase of 48.6% from Q1 2022, affirming the continued assurance of the LMRA to further develop and enhance its processes and the quality of services.
Jamsheer outlined that the LMRA’s performance report for the first quarter of 2023 shows Client Services Centres serving 69,000 clients, signaling an increase of 14.6% at an average service time of only 10 minutes, along with transactions completed electronically, limiting physical attendance to the services centres.
She added that the LMRA’s Call Centres received 237.2 thousand calls, an increase of 58%, pointing out that the growth in the number of transactions achieved reflects the continuing increase in commercial activities supported by the economic recovery plan adopted by the Kingdom.
The LMRA CEO expressed thanks and appreciation for the efforts of the various concerned government agencies which have contributed to these achievements during the first quarter. At the same time, she praised the great efforts made by all employees and affiliates of the authority in various sectors and departments, and their tireless work to improve the quality and accuracy of the services provided that contributed to delivering wide-ranging facilities to clients.
Jamsheer also highlighted the LMRA’s Enforcement and Protection sector’s achievements with the success in elevating the efficiency of operations, through the intensification of daily inspection campaigns carried out by the Authority in cooperation with partners in the relevant government agencies, especially the Ministry of Interior. The figures show an increase in the number of inspection visits carried out by the authority during the first quarter of this year by 55% compared to the same period of 2022, to exceed 10,000 inspection visits, while the number of joint inspection campaigns more than doubled from 48 campaigns in the first quarter of 2022 to 155 campaigns in the same period of this year.
The expansion of inspection campaigns aims to verify the extent of the establishments’ commitment to regulations and laws, and to address irregular workers, in a way that preserves the competitiveness, justice and stability of the labour market, noting that 598 violations were recorded in the first quarter of the year, a growth of 182%, while the number of violations recorded for the use of workers without a work permit reached 983 violations.
The efforts also resulted in an increase in the total number of violations leading to deportation from 182 workers in the first three months of 2022 to about 1,093 workers in the same period this year.
As for the efforts exerted to protect and help workers preserve their rights, and avoid being victims of extortion, exploitation, and trafficking in persons, Jamsheer explained that the Authority was able to monitor and refer two cases to the Public Prosecution related to suspicion of trafficking in persons, in addition to providing assistance to file 225 labour cases submitted through the Protection and Grievances Centre of the Authority.
Jamsheer reiterated the Authority’s commitment to continue developing its procedures and services on an ongoing basis to achieve the main objective of its work in reforming and developing the labour market in accordance with the principles of the Bahrain Economic Vision 2030, which are sustainability, competitiveness, and justice.