Catherwood LibraryILR School

Bahrain, a country of under 800,000 people, has been known as the banking center of the Middle East for the last number of years, and employs almost 15,000 people in the nation. A few weeks ago, 59 employees were laid off from the Gulf International Bank, about a fifth of the work force, in a country where depriving someone else of their livelihood is thought of as no less than a betrayal. The Banking Union of Bahrain has planned a series of demonstrations against the lay-offs, hoping to raise awareness of coming problems for the Bahrain banking industry. The union claims also that they know of soon-to-come redundancy layoffs at other banks and want to send a message that they believe this is unacceptable. Bahrain as a nation is particularly vulnerable to job market changes - today unemployment is only at 4%, but just five years ago, it was at 15%.