Bahrainis working in the kingdom's hospitality sector are in line to benefit from an increased minimum wage.

A proposal to raise the minimum salary for the sector to BD300 ($773.50) was approved by the Cabinet yesterday (August 31), said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

It was submitted by Labour Minister Jameel Humaidan and involves the government initially subsidising salaries, which means the burden will not immediately fall on hoteliers.

“The project was approved by hotel and restaurant owners and aims to increase the salaries of Bahrainis working in hospitality to BD300 minimum,” Minister of State for Information Affairs and official government spokeswoman Sameera Rajab told a Press conference yesterday.

“According to the project, the Supreme Council for Vocational Training is to bear the cost of the salary subsidy and the cost of vocational training for 24 months.

“After that, the sector will bear the cost of the salary automatically and uninterruptedly.”

Labour Ministry Under-Secretary Sabah Al Dossary told the GDN that the plan was in line with the ministry's BD30 million National Employment Project (NEP), which aims to tackle unemployment through co-ordination between jobseekers and employers in the public and private sectors.

The scheme was launched in June to help 10,000 unemployed Bahrainis find jobs in the next two years.

“Similar to the NEP, this will subsidise salaries in order to improve the hospitality sector,” Al Dossary said.

'The problem is that at the moment, salaries are too low.

“Business owners in the hospitality sector make excuses, saying that the economic climate doesn't help, but Bahrainis are suffering as a result.

“By subsidising salaries for two years, this will open up opportunities for employers and increase the number of Bahrainis in these jobs.

“Bahrain is a country that has a lot of tourism through hospitality and there are many jobs in these areas.

“But unfortunately many go to foreigners and expats. This new project will increase the number of Bahrainis in these jobs.”

He said at the moment Bahrainis accounted for just 17 per cent of hospitality workers.

“It was 36 per cent 10 to 15 years ago and we want to drive it back to that level again,” he said.

“We want to aim to reach that previous figure in the next five years.

“The project will be launched 100 per cent by the end of the year.”

The GDN reported yesterday that the number of Bahrainis working in the hospitality industry had increased by four per cent in the last eight months, with latest figures showing 77 had been hired so far this year.

However, Specific Council for Training in Hospitality executive director Ali Sulaibeekh said more needed to be done to attract Bahrainis to jobs in different departments including sales, human resources, restaurants and housekeeping.

He said the main problems faced by the industry while recruiting Bahrainis were socio-cultural obstacles, due to how society envisions the career, as well as economic issues related to low wages. - TradeArabia News Service