Page 445 - Bahrain Gov annual reports(V)_Neat

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During the year ACME and the Public Works Department headed the list of employers
who engaged most labour through the department ; the former took on 541 men and the latter
engaged 477 men.
As from July, 1956, ACME began discharging some of its employees because of lack of
work. The number of persons who were dismissed as redundant between July and December,
1956, was 370.
During the year a number of foreigners, mostly Omanis, came to the Labour Exchange and
requested that they should also be recommended for jobs. Their request was rejected.
The only foreigners who were recommended for employment, as a special case, were the
manumitted slaves possessing manumission certificates issued to them by H.B.M’s Political
Agent, Bahrain ; 12 manumitted persons were placed in work and eight were refused work
because they were medically unfit. i

Employment Census. During the months of July, August and September, 1956, the first
census of employment to be carried out in Bahrain was conducted.
The object of the census was to obtain information regarding the occupation and wages of
all gainfully employed persons in Bahrain and the length of time people have remained in the
jobs which they were doing at the time of the census and also the number of unfilled vacancies
for employment and a description of them.
The census covered all the establishments in Bahrain ranging from one-man business in the
bazaar to the oil company.
For the purpose of obtaining the required information a number of Government Officials,
working in various Government Departments, were engaged as enumerators in the afternoons
while off duty. Each enumerator was given an overtime payment of Rs. 2/- per hour. Rs.8,690
was paid as overtime to the enumerators.
The town of Manama was divided into enumeration districts and a team consisting of 21
enumerators was employed under the supervision of seven Manama Municipal tax collectors.
Six enumerators were assigned to the town of Muharraq under the supervision of five municipal
tax collectors. One enumerator covered all establishments in the town of Hedd, two in East
and West Rafaa and two were assigned to the establishments in the remaining towns and
villages. Tax collectors of both the Municipalities, Manama and Muharraq, were engaged to
supervise the team of enumerators working in these two towns because they had intimate
knowledge of the location of all establishments.
Each enumerator was asked to visit every establishment in the district assigned to him and
to complete a questionnaire form for each one of them. Two forms were used. Form “A”
was used for establishments employing ten persons or less and Form “B” was used for estab­
lishments employing more than ten persons.
The number of establishments visited by the enumerators was as follows :
Establishments. Manama 2,644
Muharraq and Hidd 855
East and West Rafaa 99
Villages 140

3,738

Forty-seven establishments in the town of Manama failed to co-operate. They were small
establishments engaged in retail trade. Two villages, Bu Sebea and Bilad al Qadeem and also
people working in the pottery kilns at Aali, refused to give information regarding their estab­
lishments.
Certain establishments subject to the jurisdiction of Her Majesty’s Political Agent were
enumerated separately, the questionnaire being distributed by the Agency.
On completion, the questionnaire forms were checked in the Labour Exchange and where-
ever it was found that there were obvious mistakes the forms were returned to the enumerator
concerned and the establishments were re-visited.