Bahrain scraps foreign labour sponsorship scheme

MANAMA, May 5 - Bahrain said on Tuesday it would scrap its existing sponsorship system for foreign workers in the hope of reducing its need for expatriate labour, a first in a region often criticised by rights groups over the issue.

Many sectors of Gulf Arab economies heavily rely on low-qualified foreign workers, mostly from Asian countries.

"We're working on identifying a ceiling on expatriate workers in Bahrain," said Labour Minister Majeed al-Alawi in a statement published by Bahrain's official news agency.

He added the country's Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA) will determine the limit in a study this year.

Under the new regulations, foreign workers will be directly sponsored by the LMRA and therefore able to move jobs without the consent of their previous employer.

The changes will be effective from August.

The previous system, which is common in Gulf Arab states and under which employers do the sponsoring, has long been criticised by human rights groups for placing workers at the whim of their employers, who usually take their passports.

The strong presence of cheap Asian workers is a contentious issue in the region. They are seen distorting the labour market to the disadvantage of nationals, yet Gulf governments invite them on the assumption that nationals will not do many jobs.

Bahrain's population grew to about 1.05 million in 2007, the latest year for which statistics are available, on an influx of foreign workers. There are about 500,000 Bahraini citizens.

Bahrain, the smallest Gulf Arab state, has gone some way towards diversifying its economy away from the oil sector, and is seen as having the most advanced labour laws in the region.

"The willingness is there ... across the country to reduce the number of foreign workers, but it's too early to see whether they're able to do that," said an economist who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue.

He said that, for the foreseeable future, there will be no substitute in regional labour markets for both unskilled construction workers from Asia and qualified white-collar workers.

Rules to increase the share of nationals in the labour market of Saudi Arabia were largely not adhered to during the recent boom years, he said.

"The sponsorship system has been a curse," said Marietta Dias of the Bahrain-based Migrant Workers Protection Society.

She said the new regulations were unlikely to include domestic workers such as house maids, who she said have the worst employment conditions of all in the region.