The prospects for economic growth and high employment in Bahrain are being severely impinged by the slump in oil prices seen since late 2008.

Although prices have more than doubled since reaching a nadir of $34 a barrel earlier this year, that prices are still below the $75 barrel price required to support Bahrain's budget.

Meanwhile, Lebanon's Daily Star reports that youth employment has suffered particularly sharply in the wake of the crisis, with more than a quarter of all young Bahrainis out of a job.

In response to the impending unemployment crisis, General Federation of Bahrain Trade Unions has called on the Bahraini government and the private sector to invest heavily in new training and development programmes that will allow the country to build an economy that is built on human capital.

The country's employment prospects last month received a boost from the announcement that Ernst & Young is set to relocate its entire global oil and gas training operations from Houston to new headquarters in Bahrain.

Oil and Gas Directory: Training and Development