Government ‘pursuing’ demographic imbalance without hurting economy

‘Hike in number of expats, menial labor not true’

KUWAIT CITY, Aug 25: The government did not fail to address the demographics imbalance but has been pursuing a clear strategy two years ago to address the matter in a way that does not harm the national economy, reports Annahar daily quoting reliable economic sources.

The sources pointed out that the government was to reduce the number of expatriates by 20 percent in five years starting from 2018, i.e by 2022, by codifying private and public employment contracts limited to what the state needs from the services of various communities.

The sources pointed out that what is said about the government that the number of expatriates and the menial labor has increased is not true, given a good number of private companies, and small-sized traders in which makes it difficult to control markets.

The sources explained by saying the employer meets all the conditions for issuing visa and that the salaries of employees are regularly deposited in the bank accounts. The source added, this seems good but the employer deposits and withdraws the salaries by getting the ATM card from the employee in return for allowing them to allow them to work anywhere they desire. The law is applied on all but there are those who circumvent it and flood the market with laborers in return for money.

The sources added, the concerned authorities have taken additional measures to curb this phenomenon, including the recently announced cancellation of thousands of unregulated work permits, in addition to restricting the recruitment of labor to skilled technicians and expertise and purify the labor market gradually.

The sources pointed out there is severe pressure for not appointing expatriates in the public sector, and all government institutions have taken upon themselves the responsibility to nationalize jobs with available Kuwaitis, and use of external expertise in other places where national workforce is not available.