7.1% growth expected in Kuwait employment – ‘Structural imbalance remains’

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KUWAIT CITY, Aug 10: The Procapita Management Consulting and Human Resources revealed in its second semi-annual report for 2022, that the surge of competencies and talents in the labor market still constitutes the most prominent challenge for businesses in the Kuwaiti labor market, as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, as the market witnessed a slight improvement in the structural imbalance, but is still far from the expected level, reports Al-Qabas daily.

The report noted that the intensity of competition between firms to attract and retain talent indicates the size of the structural imbalance resulting from the gap between supply and demand in the Kuwaiti labor market, at a time when the inflation I’m the cost of living as a result of the economic and political crises that the world is currently witnessing constitutes a major challenge that limits the stability of the work environment.

Unstable The report stated that the increase in the rate of voluntary job turnover indicates the beginning of the spread of the phenomenon of major resignations in the Arab Gulf and the Middle East, in conjunction with a volatile and unstable work environment, which calls for organizational restructuring of facilities for business sustainability and growth, despite a clear improvement in the compensation and benefits packages provided as a result of competition over scarcity of qualified and experienced personnel.

Muhammad Abu Al-Rub, CEO of Procapita and founder of ZENITHR for smart solutions for human resources, said: “The report includes highlights of a global phenomenon, which is the phenomenon of major resignations, which has spread in America and the European continent since mid-2021, and its impact is felt in some Asian and GCC countries bearing in mind that previous Procapita reports had indicated that the voluntary turnover rate has been increasing since June 2021 and the extent to which the business environment and structural imbalances in the labor market are affected, and the repercussions of skilled migration and scarcity. He added that the increase in the gap between supply and demand for some competencies was directly reflected on average wages, as some jobs witnessed a significant increase in the average wages granted to them by up to 100%, while others witnessed a noticeable decrease.

Abu Al-Rub said that the main observations of the study and the questionnaire showed the following:
● The main challenge in the business environment is the lack of required expertise and competencies (64.3%), followed by the continuous increase in the inflation rate (65.3%) and the global supply chain crisis (59.7%)
● The cost of living and inflation will be most affected in the coming period (73.6%), while business stability was the second most affected factor in the coming period (58.9%).

● The current compensation and benefits packages are not commensurate with the existing price levels and high prices, and the annual salary increases do not keep pace or cover the rise in the cost of living.
● Digital transformation has proven its importance for enterprises in avoiding many potential risks.
● To ensure the stability and sustainability of establishments, 71.4% of respondents relied on the organizational restructuring of their facilities, while 42.9% directed towards digital transformation for its effectiveness in reducing the impact of an unstable work environment.
● The percentage of males looking for job opportunities in the private sector in the Kuwaiti market constitutes 74.5%, a difference of approximately 3.5 times that of females, at 25.5%. The “Procapita” study of the Kuwaiti labor market showed expectations that it will complete its recovery further during the second half of 2022 by achieving an employment growth rate of 7.1%, at a time when the employment rates this year varied according to the nature of the economic activity of companies, as some sectors witnessed a recovery and an increase in employment rates in the first half of 2022, while others have stagnated.

The study pointed to the phenomenon of major resignations in the Gulf countries, where the latest studies indicated that more than 47.5% of qualified and experienced people expressed their desire to change their current jobs in the coming months, and the most important reasons were –searching for better compensation and benefits, career development, changing the work environment and culture, fl exible working hours and changing the geographical location.

Survey
The study said 64.3% of the respondents in the Procapita survey indicated that the senior management and the executive management are characterized by a high percentage of Kuwaitization in most sectors, in addition to some other departments such as human resources, administrative affairs, labor development, marketing and e-commerce, legal affairs, accounting, finance, procurement and logistics management. At a time, 86.3% of human resources specialists explained that the importance and appreciation of human resources departments has increased after the pandemic. This is due to their pivotal role in supporting the facility during economic closures, online work management, and continuous cooperation to cover all employee needs during critical times.

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