Among the numerous street protests that have gripped Bahrain in recent months, none were so genteel as the weekly gatherings in March of businessmen at the doors of Tamkeen, the recently rebranded labour fund.
The focus of the protesters’ anger is a BD10 ($26.6) monthly tax on every foreign worker, introduced last July. The funds are to be used by Tamkeen – “the enabler” – to train Bahraini nationals for work in the private sector, as part of wider reforms intended to cut unemployment, diversify the economy and reduce the public wage bill.
“The labour market reforms are about making the private sector the employer of choice, and equipping Bahrainis for those roles,” says Abdulellah al-Qassimi, chief executive of the fund.
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