Bahrain financial sector jobs up 2.8 pct

Proportion of women rises to 38.2 pct

MANAMA, Bahrain, March 27: Employment in Bahrain’s financial services industry grew by 2.8% during 2015, with a total of 13,877 people employed at end-2015 compared with 13,496 at end-2014.

The main driver of job growth was the non-bank financial sector (comprising insurance firms, money changers, financing companies, investment business firms, and other non-bank financial institutions) which added 287 new jobs, an increase of 5.1%, taking the number to 5,860 employees. Job growth in the money changers hit 10.8% to 1,534 jobs in 2015 from 1,384 in 2014. In addition, financing companies and micro-finance institutions registered a job growth of 8.3% to reach 783 jobs for the same period.

The banking sector underwent an increase in employment by 1.1%. Total employment in the banking sector reached 7,553 at end-2015 compared with 7,473 at end-2014.

According to the annual survey conducted by the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB), the Bahraini workforce employed by the financial services sector reached 9,040 in 2015, an increase of 152 jobs over the 2014 figure of 8,888 jobs. The proportion of Bahraini women is 38.2% of total Bahraini workforce under the financial sector up from 37.4% in 2013 and 37.8% in 2014. This reflects the special attention paid to Bahraini women by the government of Bahrain to employ and promote more female workers.

The employment in the financial sector continued to grow last year despite the recent economic conditions caused by the decline in oil and the global restructuring of the financial industry.