Kuwait’s efforts to cut number of expat workers bearing fruit
83,574 expatriates left for good from Sept to Dec ’20
KUWAIT CITY, Jan 18: The State’s efforts to reduce the number of expatriate workers are bearing fruit, taking into consideration the radical changes in the demographic structure recently, reports Al-Qabas daily.
The daily obtained a copy of a report on the local labor market in the third quarter of 2020, stating that 83,574 expatriates left the country permanently from September to December 2020; thus, the number of expatriate workers decreased to 1.5 million.
The report affirmed that work is continuing to effect more changes in the demographic structure and reduce the number of unnecessary workers in government agencies.
The employment contracts of 2,144 expatriates in various government agencies were terminated within three months. The ministries of Health and Education maintained their position as service authorities with the highest number of expatriate workers; followed by Kuwaiti airlines, bakeries and public transport.
With these recent developments, the expatriate workers in government agencies constitute about 29 percent of the total number of registered workers in the government sector – around 95,173 – 65 percent of whom are in the ministries of Education and Health as teachers and medical staff, the report added.
The report pointed out the remarkable increase in the number of Kuwaitis in all business sectors – 4,248; bringing the total to 400,909 by the end of September.
As for the domestic workers sector, the number of domestic workers decreased by about 7,385 within three months while 382 male workers joined the sector.