Non-Bahrainis in government jobs down 29% since 2019

Non-Bahrainis working in government jobs have fallen by 29 per cent over about six years, dropping from 7,582 employees in 2019 to 5,361 to date, the Civil Service Bureau has said.

In a written reply to a parliamentary question by MP Dr Hisham Al Ashiri, the bureau put the change down to ongoing work with ministries and other bodies covered by the Civil Service Law. It said it supplies a qualified Bahraini candidate whenever one is available, while keeping public services and day-to-day performance from being affected.

The bureau said ministries, authorities and public institutions hired 3,884 new staff from January 2023 to date, with Bahrainis making up 95 per cent of appointments.

Hires

Around 2,850 of those hires, about 73 per cent, were in the health and education sectors. Bahrainis accounted for 93 per cent of appointments in those two areas, it added. Recruitment in the civil service is mainly limited to Bahrainis, the bureau said, with scope to hire non-Bahrainis on short-term contracts when no suitably qualified Bahraini is available, under Article 11 of the Civil Service Law. It said this is allowed on the condition that Bahrainis are trained during the contract period. The bureau said the use of non-Bahrainis has been focused on specialist and rare fields. These include consultant doctors, cardiac perfusion roles in intensive care units, neuro tests, genome science, prosthetics, and academic posts in higher education.

List

It also listed aviation security and safety, water geology, geophysics, marine and air surveying, wells and groundwater, plant protection, and bridge and infrastructure projects, adding that most of these posts sit in health, medical and education work. Over the same period, the bureau said it published six local job adverts through its official social media accounts, following requests from a number of government bodies. It said hiring is based on an actual need to fill a vacancy, after checks that the post exists within the approved structure, staffing ceiling and budget, and matches the job descriptions and standards used across the civil service. The bureau said it handles vacancy adverts, nominations and the running of interviews, working with government bodies, including those governed by special rules.

Vacancies

It said the bodies themselves must notify it of vacancies they want to fill, while the bureau decides how posts are advertised, locally or overseas. The bureau also referred to guidance issued on the rules and terms for hiring into government posts, aimed at unifying recruitment methods and strengthening fairness and openness. 

It said each government body picks its preferred candidate after interviews held in the presence, and under the supervision, of a Civil Service Bureau representative.

Roles

The bureau also pointed to an internal vacancy service, ‘Shawagher’, which allows government employees seeking better roles to apply through the bureau’s online portal, alongside the ‘GovEmployee’ app. This followed a Cabinet decision requiring vacancies to be advertised internally before seeking hires from outside government bodies. It said 486 job announcements have been published through the ‘GovEmployee’ app since January 2023, as part of moves to support internal transfers and make use of Bahraini talent within the government workforce.