National Employment Program

Incentivizing enterprises to employ Bahraini talent to facilitate their entry to the labor market

  • About the Program

    This program encourages private sector enterprises to employ nationals through wage support for up to three years. This helps Bahraini graduates (with less than 24 months of experience) and jobseekers nominated by the Ministry of Labour enter the labor market, while supporting enterprises to employ the talent they need to drive their productivity and success.  

    While this program is open for employing graduates from all educational backgrounds, there are also tracks under the program which support specializations such as doctors, actuaries, and engineers to cater to the specific needs of their sectors.  

  • Eligibility Criteria

    For enterprises:   

    • Enterprise must have an active CR/license 
    • Enterprise must not have violations from Tamkeen or LMRA 

    For employees:  

    • Employee must be a Bahraini national 
    • Employee must be a fresh graduate with 24 months of experience or less, or a jobseeker nominated by the Ministry of Labour 
    • Employee joined the enterprise less than 6 months ago (does not apply to the actuaries track) 
    • Employee’s wage must not be lower than:  
      • BHD 350 for high school graduates  
      • BHD 430 for diploma holders 
      • BHD 500 for bachelor’s degree holders and above (does not apply to the doctors track) 
      • Flexible and part-time employees will also be supported through this program. Minimum wages will be adjusted based on the number of working hours 

    For the actuaries track:  

    • Employee must have an academic background in the field, such as: Actuarial Science, Statistics, Mathematics, etc.  
    • Employee must be employed by an enterprise in the financial sector as an actuary  
    • Employee’s wage must be a minimum of BHD 500  

    For the doctors track:  

    • Employee must be a licensed doctor or dentist employed in a private hospital or clinic   
    • Employee’s wage must be a minimum of BHD 800  

    For the engineers track:  

    • Employee must be registered with and nominated by the Ministry of Labour as a jobseeker 
    • Employee must have a bachelor’s degree in engineering  
    • Employee must be employed as an engineer with a job title that reflects that  
    • Employee must be a trainee engineer as per The Council for Regulating the Practice of Engineering Professions (CRPEP) 
    • Employee’s wage must be a minimum of BHD 500  
    • Individuals who are already licensed engineers by CRPEP are not eligible to benefit from this track
  • Support Mechanism

    For all tracks we will support part of the wages of the employees for up to 3 years as follows:  

    • 70% for the first year 
    • 50% for the second year  
    • 30% for the third year  

    For the engineers track, eligible enterprises will receive wage subsidy support of 40% for 5 years. 

    The support is subject to the approved cap amount. 

    The following are not eligible for receiving support through this program:  

    • Outsourcing companies seeking to obtain support for employees seconded to other entities  
    • Employees who have a first or second-degree relationship with the employer 

Frequently Asked Questions