Bahrain: Lawmakers call to increase unemployment benefits
A group of Bahraini lawmakers are seeking to amend the country’s unemployment insurance system to expand the benefits offered to the jobless, Akhbar Al Khaleej newspaper reported.
According to the current system in Bahrain, the unemployed people are eligible to obtain nine-month benefits for every 24 continued months of being out of work.
The lawmakers have proposed shortening the eligibility duration to get nine months of unemployment benefits for every 12 of being continuously out of work.
“This amendment will have a remarkably positive effect on beneficiaries from the Unemployment Fund,” said MP Zeinab Abdul Amir, a co-author of the draft bill. “This amendment will enable them to meet their life needs.”
She explained that the fund has an annual revenue of nearly 40 million dinars while its expenditures account for just 10%.
“The unemployed people deserve to be given a top priority from the surplus of this account originally launched to aid and support them,” Zeinab added.
Unemployment in Bahrain is officially estimated at about 4% of the country’s total manpower.
