Parliament yesterday witnessed a heated argument between a senior MP and a minister over reforms to the labour market.

The debate over job opportunities and pay for Bahrainis between Labour and Social Development Minister Jameel Humaidan and Parliament first vice-chairman Abdulnabi Salman proved stormy.

Mr Salman claimed that hundreds of Bahrainis were earning less than BD200 a month, citing an example of a Bahraini woman earning a monthly wage of BD50.

He suggested statistics were being “manipulated” to paint a positive picture, adding, “It’s a failure.”

The minister, who is also LMRA board chairman, earlier responded in writing about the most popular private sector careers enjoyed by Bahrainis and expats.

Most Bahrainis in the private sector currently work as customer service agents, engineers and accountants, whereas expats took up labouring, sales and supervisory roles. The minister said he could not understand the MP’s fury.“

The question was about favourable jobs and nothing about jobs occupied by expats,” he said.“

There are some Bahrainis working part-time for BD200 and they are registered with us. The case of the BD50 is a a female working at a school canteen for an hour a day.“

We have already placed rules to favour Bahrainis as we ensure proper employment for them in decent jobs.”

Mr Humaidan said the 32,000 lost job opportunities stated in the Administrative and Financial Audit Bureau report for 2019/2020 was a misunderstanding that would be corrected.“

We don’t throw job applications in the trash and we deal with each case professionally, but any country in the world has to differentiate between serious job seekers and others,” he said.

The minister added Bahrainisation levels had increased by 2.1 per cent in the first half of last year despite the economic impact of Covid-19, while dismissals of Bahrainis last year had dropped by 9pc compared with 2019.“

The average pay for Bahrainis in the private sector has increased in the first half of last year to BD763 compared with BD723 at the end of 2018 and BD690 at the end of 2016,” said the minister.“

The percentage of Bahrainis earning more than BD600 has jumped to 35pc of the national workforce in comparison with 32pc in 2018 and 30pc by the end of 2016.“

Only 7pc of expats receive more than BD600 from their total workforce.”

Mr Humaidan said 72pc of the 456,840 expats were in low-paid jobs with earnings below BD200 and were positions that Bahrainis did not seek.

Mr Humaidan said in another response to a question by Parliament’s financial and economic affairs committee chairman Mahmood Al Bahrani that 42,885 expats were living in the kingdom under active flexi permits until November 20.

The minister added that 55,102 permits were issued since the launch of the initiative.

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