New plans have been unveiled by Arab states aimed at reducing the rate of joblessness to seven per cent over the coming decade.

By 2020, nations in the Arab Labor Organization (ALO) are aiming to halve unemployment from 14 per cent and boost productivity by one per cent each year in order to generate more jobs, according to Agence France Presse.

The proposals have emerged from a three-day summit in Manama at which ministers looked at ways of curbing extremism and reducing the mobility of workforces in Arab countries by reducing joblessness.

Speaking at the event, ALO head Ahmed Mohammed Lukman declared: "Unemployment threatens all Arab societies without exception … It threatens social harmony and national security, as it constitutes a source of extremism."

Meanwhile, Gulf News has reported that the jobless rate in Bahrain dropped last month by 0.1 points to 3.7 per cent, according to the labor minister Majeed Al Alawi.