Employment in Bahrain’s financial services industry grew by 2.8 percent during 2015, with a total of 13,877 people employed at end-2015 compared to 13,496 in the year-earlier period, according to central bank figures.
Central bank data showed that employment in the financial sector continued to grow last year despite the recent economic conditions caused by the decline in oil and the global restructuring of the financial industry.
The main driver of job growth was the non-bank financial sector comprising insurance firms, money changers, financing companies, and investment business firms, which added 287 new jobs, an increase of 5.1 percent, taking the number to 5,860 employees.
Job growth in the money changers hit 10.8 percent to 1,534 jobs in 2015 from 1,384 in 2014. In addition, financing companies and microfinance institutions registered a job growth of 8.3 percent to reach 783 jobs for the same period.
The banking sector underwent an increase in employment by 1.1 percent. Total employment in the banking sector reached 7,553 at end-2015 compared with 7,473 at end-2014.
According to the annual survey conducted by the Central Bank of Bahrain, the Bahraini workforce employed by the financialservices sector reached 9,040 in 2015, an increase of 152 jobs over the 2014 figure.
The proportion of Bahraini women is 38.2 percent of total Bahraini workforce under the financial sector up from 37.4 percent in 2013 and 37.8 percent in 2014, the figures showed.
The central banks said this reflects the special attention paid to Bahraini women by the government of Bahrain to employ and promote more female workers.
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