The Bahraini government had decided last month to support private-sector jobs by providing a 50% salary of Bahrainis working in the most affected organizations adversely affected by the pandemic.
Minister of Labour and Social Development, Jameel bin Mohammed Ali Humaidan has today elaborated on a set of criteria and requirements formulated by the Bahraini government to choose the most qualified organizations in the private sector who would receive its financial support a period of three months, starting from July 2020, from the Unemployment Insurance Fund.
Bahrain’s Social Insurance Organisation (SIO) is expected to pay the required fund from the Unemployment Insurance Fund. The government has mandated that the Bahrainis qualified to this salary support from the government should be insured through the National Employment Programme by the end of the month that precedes the date of disbursement.
Sectors classified as most adversely affected by the global pandemic
The Labour and Social Development classified the following sectors as the most affected by the global pandemic;
Travel and Aviation
Hospitality and Restaurants
Personal services (salons and gyms, games and entertainment halls)
Industries
Healthcare
Transportation
Rehabilitation and Training sector (including kindergartens)
Retail (other than food)
Administrative services (public relations, media, and event organization)
Real estate and Contracting
Engineering and Technical offices
Local newspapers and magazines and
Any other affected sectors except for the financial sector, telecommunications sector, science, technical and professional activities, and universities and schools.
The Minister updated that, to avail the benefits, the firms which fall into the most affected sector should not only have their business operations wholly or partially disrupted by the pandemic which would, in turn, impacted the firm’s ability to meet the wages of its employees but also have retained its Bahraini employees during the year 2020. The firm should also have expressed its commitment to pay the remaining portion of the salaries to its Bahraini employees in full and without deduction on the date set for salary payments.
Minister Ali Humaidan expressed his gratitude to businesses for their cooperation with the Ministry of Labour and Social Development and their commitment to implementing the relevant decisions in the public interest.
Humaidan emphasized that the Labour and Social Development Ministry will review the list of employers who benefited in the first financial and economic stimulus package and will determine the companies most adversely affected.
He remarked that the list of qualified companies will be then referred to the SIO in order to transfer the required payments during the fourth week of every month.
