Employment in Bahrain’s financial services industry grew by 2.8 per cent during 2015, with a total of 13,877 people employed at end-2015 compared with 13,496 at end-2014, according to new data released by the Central Bank of Bahrain.

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 per cent, taking the number to 5860 employees.

Job growth in the money changers hit 10.8 per cent to 1534 jobs in 2015 from 1384 in 2014. In addition, financing companies and microfinance institutions registered a job growth of 8.3 per cent to reach 783 jobs for the same period.

The banking sector underwent an increase in employment by 1.1 per cent. Total employment in the banking sector reached 7553 at end-2015 compared with 7473 at end-2014.  

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 per cent of total Bahraini workforce under the financial sector up from 37.4 per cent in 2013 and 37.8 per cent 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. – TradeArabia News Service