Adjusting demographic structure must begin with domestic workers

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KUWAIT CITY, Aug 15: Electoral programs of candidates that depend on unrealistic goals began have surfaced once again, such as adjusting the demographic structure and writing off loans, etc, reports Al-Qabas daily. This is because the candidates take advantage of citizens’ lack of awareness about the fact that these demands cannot be met for the simple reason their demands can damage the nation economically and can even harm the citizens themselves if demands are met.

However, the contestants continue to take advantage of the citizens’ lack of awareness. The issue of dropping loans is not acceptable in form, even subject, and focus on the issue of demographics that can be accepted formally for security and social reasons, but are unacceptable and harmful in reality. A look at the government sector shows 76% of the employees are citizens we will find that it suffers from disguised unemployment and low productivity.

While the private sector, in which citizens constitute 4%, does not suffer from these same problems. So can the government actually reduce the 1.5 million productive expatriates working in the private sector? Are citizens able or wanting to do their jobs and receive their wages, even with the labor support allowance? On the other hand, if we look at the domestic workers that often serve citizens, except in very rare cases, we will find that their number is 723,000, and they constitute 49% of the total number of citizens, 23% of the total number of expatriates, and 16% others. When we looked about its economic benefits the following was discovered:

Economic

1 – Domestic labor does not have feasible economic benefits, as it does not increase the income of the employer except in special cases, and it causes social and health imbalances due to over-reliance on employees of this sector.

2 – Domestic workers do not have bank accounts and do not rent housed, and transfer most of their income to the home country and therefore do not contribute effectively to increasing the domestic product, but rather negatively affect the level of per capita income in Kuwait. For example, if we refer to the data of the World Bank on Kuwait’s GDP for 2019, we will find that the level of per capita income in Kuwait will increase by approximately 20% if the population is reduced by 16% while keeping the GDP as it is (from the level of 32.3 thousand dollars to 38.5 thousand dollars annually).

Residence

3 – Expatriates violating residence laws who work and produce and do not pose a security problem contribute to the development of the domestic product more than domestic workers because they rent their housing and work productivity. Do citizens want, or can they, dispense with domestic workers to adjust the demographic structure so that the percentage of citizens is close to 38% instead of 32%, as is the case now? Expatriate labor is the basis of economic growth in Kuwait. The experiences of the UAE and Qatar can be cited in this regard.

Rather, it is possible to look at the measures taken by Bahrain and the UAE to attract and facilitate long stays for retired expatriates who have a fixed income to live comfortably and safely and contribute to the development of the local economy of both the UAE and Bahrain.

The sources said, we can also look at the recent directives of His Highness, the Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Prince Muhammad bin Salman, to increase the proportion of expatriates in Saudi Arabia to 50% by 2030, compared to approximately 38% currently. The problem in Kuwait is not in the proportion of expatriates in the demographic structure, but rather in how to deal with it and provide adequate and appropriate services to both citizens and residents, including roads, hospitals, and others, without failing to achieve the required welfare for society, which is something that Kuwaitis must be aware of so that their claims are beneficial to them and their country, so don’t be a victim of candidate abuse.

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