FUTURE UNCERTAIN FOR NATIONAL EMPLOYMENT PROJECT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 MANAMA 000704

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR DRL: JOSEPH DEMARIA
LABOR FOR ILAB: JAMES RUDE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/19/2016
TAGS: ELAB PGOV PREL BA REGION HUMRIT REFORM
SUBJECT: FUTURE UNCERTAIN FOR NATIONAL EMPLOYMENT PROJECT

REF: A. MANAMA 20

B. MANAMA 404

Classified By: Ambassador William T. Monroe for reasons 1.4(b) and (d).

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Summary
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1. (C) Bahrain's much-anticipated 80 million dollar National
Employment Project (NEP) completed its formal registration
phase at the end of February and has moved into its worker
orientation and assessment phases. NEP Head of Marketing
Nizar Al Qari told PolOff April 18 that optimism and morale
among NEP implementers have slipped due to management
decisions. The shuffling of leadership responsibilities has
led to a complicated chain of command and decreased
organizational effectiveness. Minister of Labor Dr. Majeed
Al Alawi's strained relationship with Australian consultant
EFI over proper use of a worker aptitude assessment exam
could result in the consultant being pulled from the project.
Misuse of assessment results by job placement counselors has
led to increased numbers of registrants refusing job offers
and press coverage of NEP's shortcomings. End Summary.


2. (C) Fall 2005 saw hope and anticipation build through an
NEP public marketing campaign under the leadership of the
Minister of Labor. The NEP proposed to register all of the
estimated 20,000 unemployed Bahrainis beginning in January
and provide support to place them into jobs (ref A). The
program was to assess the skills and aptitudes of individual
unemployed workers, to match each with a job available in the
private or public sector, and to provide necessary training
based on the requirements of the position. The formal
registration phase was conducted in January and February.
The following progress report presents a differing
perspective from inside the program to that presented by
Minister Al Alawi one month earlier in ref B.

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NEP Management Problems
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3. (C) NEP Head of Marketing Nizar Al Qari told PolOff that
early optimism in the project and high morale have waned in
the wake of management decisions and questionable project
leadership. Publicly officials are maintaining a positive
outlook, but internally there are doubts about management
shuffling that has undercut the effectiveness of the program.
According to Al Qari, Minister of Labor Majeed Al Alawi has
assumed direct oversight of parts of the project that were
previously managed by Ministry of Labor Assistant
Undersecretary for Training and NEP Director Ahmed Al Banna.
This change has complicated the chain of command and created
a disorganized management structure leading to confusion in
the project.


4. (C) Al Qari reported difficulties in the relationship
between Minister Al Alawi and Australian consultant EFI
International. EFI has counseled against some of the
decisions of the Minister, and the Minister has not been
satisfied with EFI's support and reportedly is considering
releasing them from the project. Al Qari feels this would be
a grave mistake. The cornerstone of the NEP has been the
worker skill and aptitude assessment phase for which EFI is
responsible and which was lacking in previous employment
projects. This missing piece in previous years' programs
resulted in many newly-placed workers leaving their jobs
after a short time due to low interest and motivation. In
the NEP, worker assessment has proceeded at a rate of
approximately 240 workers per day, but per a directive from
the Minister, according to Al Qari, assessment results are
not being used by the team of 40 job counselors placing
workers. Also per Ministerial directive, training of these
counselors was accelerated and abbreviated with the intent of
increasing early job placements. The results have been
under-trained counselors not taking advantage of aptitude
assessments and press reports of job refusals by workers in
the program.

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Placements Not On Track to Reach Goal
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5. (C) Al Qari expressed concern that so far there have been
fewer than 400 workers placed in jobs while publicly the
Minister has promised that by year's end 10,000 workers will
be in jobs. Although Al Qari recognized that the Minister
was a very effective advocate for the program in the lead-up

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to the registration campaign, he thought the program's
promises of 10,000 new jobs and the availability of public
sector jobs were mistakes. In reality, the public sector
jobs have been limited to government school teaching
positions, which require high levels of education and for
which most of the registrants are not qualified. Another
concern is that employers are becoming increasingly upset at
work permit processing delays. The NEP recruitment unit
promised employers expedited approval for their expatriate
workers if they agreed to reserve jobs for Bahrainis in the
NEP. If discontent continues to rise, employers may
reconsider their participation in the program.


6. (C) Al Qari maintained that regardless of the
unemployment numbers talked about in the press, there are no
more than 5,000 truly unemployed Bahrainis in the country.
He said that a large number of women registered under the NEP
had not worked previously and were stay-at-home mothers and
wives. Many of them registered thinking they would be
eligible for a financial grant from the King. When told that
there was no grant but that they would receive a stipend
through the training period leading to a job, a common
response was, "I don't really want a job, I just want
training." Al Qari said that the NEP is exploring the idea
of a job share system in retail businesses for middle-aged
women with low skills. The women are more comfortable with
an abbreviated schedule and are happy to be able to
supplement their families' incomes.

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On the Other Hand, Still Some Cause for Optimism
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7. (U) Ministry of Labor Assistant Undersecretary for
Training Ahmed Al Banna revised NEP registered unemployment
figures April 24 from those announced four weeks earlier. He
said that the number of registrants had dropped to 10,916
from nearly 13,000, meaning that over 2,000 registered under
the NEP had found jobs. He admitted that "a large number had
found jobs through their own efforts," but said that many
others had been helped through the NEP, and others had
received "Commercial Registrations" enabling them to open
their own business. (Note: Al Banna did not mention how
many may have been NEP registrants who decided not to
continue in the program, such as housewives who were not
committed to working. End note.) Al Banna said that nearly
500 others had begun Bahrain Training Institute courses and
will begin their jobs after completing their respective
courses.

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Applicants' Willingness to Work in Question
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8. (U) Al Banna had told the press March 28 that the 12,949
people accepted for the NEP reflected the accurate number of
unemployed Bahrainis in the country. However, Al Banna
warned that the NEP would not be successful if those seeking
jobs were too choosy. The story reported that of 1813
registrants interviewed at that point, only 977 (54%) had
accepted positions offered to them. Of the total number of
registrants Al Banna said that 16% of this total had
university degrees and another 15% had some post-secondary
schooling. The remaining had a high school education or
less. Seventy-five percent of those accepted to the program
were women.


9. (U) Bahrain Petroleum Company President Dr. Mustafa Al
Sayed referred to the NEP April 10 on the sidelines of the
Asian Regional Training Development Organization's Human
Resources Conference, saying that those seeking jobs need to
realize that they will start at the bottom and work their way
up. "Every job is good if one does it very well. That is
the attitude that companies look for." Al Sayed said that
competition is tight in the labor market, and the unemployed
are missing out on a good opportunity if they refuse offers
of work provided by the NEP.

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Comment
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10. (C) The NEP is an important piece in the Crown Prince's
economic reform movement. Even limited success would be a
great disappointment to the palace, the government, and to
the people. The project has high visibility as one which can
provide for the needs of the disadvantaged as they compete in
the labor market against better-trained expatriate workers.
If it does not reach up to its billing, deep-seated mistrust

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between the government and the public, in particular the Shia
population, which is disproportionately impacted by
unemployment, will only grow. Pessimists who disparaged the
project before it started will be proved to have been right
all along. However, the project is still in its early
stages. The formal registration period closed at the end of
February, so phase two introductory sessions, phase three
assessment and counseling sessions, and phase four training
sessions are still accommodating the bulk of registrants.
There will be more clarity as larger numbers of workers
complete training and decide whether to accept their assigned
jobs.

MONROE