Number of Non-Kuwaiti Employees in Gov’t Dropped – Economic Affairs Minister

With the government’s national programme to boost employment among Kuwaiti nationals already on track to hitting its goal by 2023, a different picture in terms of manpower composition is expected to come in trickles as months pass by.

ALSO READ: Kuwait Assembly Committee Eyes Total Kuwaitization by 2023

However, whether this would mean better for the national economy or otherwise, we have yet to find out. But this phenomenon has caused a number of non-Kuwaiti employees, particularly those in the public sectors, to lose jobs, which some of them may have already been holding for several years already.

Number of Non-Kuwaiti Employees in Gov’t Dropped – Economic Affairs Minister
Credits: Lindsay Silveira/Flickr

Gov’t Sees Drop in Number of Non-Kuwaiti Employees to Date

This was the update shared by State Minister for Economic Affairs Mariam Al-Aqeel, noting that the number of non-Kuwaiti employees in the government has dropped, as the replacement policy is being implemented in government departments linked to integrated systems, according to a report by the Kuwait Times.

At present, the number of non-Kuwaiti employees in the public sector is at 81,817 after this reached as high as 114,000 some years back, marking a 28 percent drop up until this point.

As per Minister Al-Aqeel, non-Kuwaiti employees are comprised of various nationalities including Gulf nationals (4,273), Arabs (46,968), Europeans (183), Asians (27,708), Africans (207), Americans (196) and Australians (9), in addition to bedoons (2,273).

Based on the new numbers, there is a significant drop in non-Kuwaiti employees holding government posts as compared to previous years, after reaching 85,670 at the start of 2017, then dropping by 4.5 percent to 81,817 as of last year. Dating back to 2012, when their numbers were 114,890, non-Kuwaiti government employees have consistently been going down by 28 percent in seven years.

At this rate, it’s quite easy to see which direction the government is taking its labour sector, as the number confirms the government’s efforts.

Few years ago, the Kuwaitization programme has seemingly hit a speed bump when there weren’t enough positions in the public sector to accommodate nationals, but what ensued after was only the logical solution to address the problem – to get rid of non-Kuwaiti nationals, intermittently or in large groups, with the government sacking up to 3,000 expat employees working in the public sector at one point.

Various approaches were made including imposing tedious academic requirements as well residency checks even among long-time resident expats in the country.

ALSO READ: By the Numbers: Kuwait’s Labour Force

Leave a Comment