MANAMA Bahrain, where a weak economy contributed to sectarian unrest during the 1990s, has set its sights on fighting unemployment which runs as high as one in four among the local workforce.

Members of the Persian Gulf state's Consultative Council estimate the unemployment figure at 25 percent, or between 20,000 and 30,000 Bahrainis from a mostly young population who account for 60 percent of the country's 700,000 residents.

The high level of unemployment even prompted local youths to stage a sit-in protest outside the Labor Ministry, a rare event in the conservative Arab monarchies of the Persian Gulf.