Kuwait will need over 2 million workers in govt, private sectors from 2016 and 2020

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KUWAIT CITY, Nov 27: Kuwait will require about 524,000 employees in the government sector and 1.6 million employees in the private sector during the period between the years 2016 and 2020, as per the second developmental plan.

It indicated an expected increase of national manpower in the private sector by 10 percent and reduction of unemployment rate from 9.7 percent in 2016 to 7.4 percent in 2020. The plan recommends rectifying the flaws in the labor market by registering foreign manpower under the sponsorship of projects for a period not exceeding the scheduled duration of project completion, and banning the transfer of their sponsorship during project execution.

It also recommended establishment of companies that provide domestic services and enacting laws to control the recruitment of domestic workers directly through the citizens. The amendment to the second developmental plan indicated the possibility of the government and oil sector creating around 11,500 job opportunities of which 9,800 will be for citizens and 1,700 for non-citizens, and the possibility of the private sector creating around 56,700 jobs, which will cover about 10 percent of the national manpower annually.

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According to the plan, the total number of job opportunities that the government will create in the coming years will be about 375,000 for citizens and 148,000 for non-citizens, while the private sector will create about 137,500 jobs for citizens and 1.6 million jobs for non-citizens. The plan based its estimates on the overall economic model from the Supreme Planning Council, which is concerned with the average rate of investment, expected growth rate, private sector’s incentive policies and diversification of the manufacturing base.

The average demand for workforce needed to achieve the economy objectives of the plan is around 68,300 employees per year. It stressed the importance of increasing the participation of national personnel in the private sector through recruitment and training programs for them, and controlling the congestion in the governmental sector in line with the international levels and criteria allotted in this domain.

It insisted on the need to improve the work environment in the private sector for attracting national personnel such as by harmonizing the working hours, salaries and financial benefits in the public and private sectors for the Kuwaiti personnel.

The plan’s recommendations included financially supporting the Kuwaiti craftsmen to enable them to market their products and supporting their small and medium scale projects by providing them with administrative facilities. They also highlighted the need to develop the information system and the method of recruiting personnel and providing professional tests for the existing and new personnel both inside and outside Kuwait in order to help in improving the level of productivity.

The plan suggested registering expatriate personnel in the private sector on the sponsorship of the project only for the time required for project implementation. These personnel cannot be transferred while working on the project. The plan also recommended establishing specialized companies to provide various domestic services and an organization of family services to control the recruitment of domestic personnel through citizens directly.

By Hiba Al-Taweel Al-Seyassah Staff

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