17,000 citizens currently unemployed – Kuwaitis observing dangerous phenomenon

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KUWAIT CITY, Dec 28: Kuwaitis are observing a dangerous phenomenon, which is alien to the country, in view of recent official statistics indicating some 17,000 citizens are currently unemployed; not counting an average of 30,000 fresh graduates produced annually, reports Al-Anba daily.

Statistics revealed that new graduates now battle the reality of queuing for jobs coupled with the challenges in labor market and the very limited but available investment opportunities, as private sector bargain for highly-experienced workers or expatriates who are less costly to maintain.

The situation made it necessary for the relevant sector to seek out alternative opportunities when the youth discovered that government no longer opens employment doors as it did in the past, and the issue is more compounded with the pressure of budget deficit encountered by GCC countries, including Kuwait, due to the falling prices of oil. The drastic fall in revenue has pushed the government to cut down on expenditure through austerity measures that affect the rate of citizen employments.

Obliged
In view of the current situation, the youth is now obliged to think out of the box through initiatives that will see them flipping over the conventional way of waiting for monthly salary, which in most cases, kill the creativity in them.

Those youths have taken to the digital world, which helps them to change the concept of investment and using the idea to offer multimillion dollar services to consumers online. Those ideas became a reality within the past few years as the youth use applications and websites to serve consumers who prefer to save time and efforts.

They have accomplished quick successes and profits, which are even noted by international companies operating outside the country, while the companies in question gradually take over small successful digital projects. For instance, a Kuwaiti youth Mohammad Ja’afar invested about KD 1 million on a website in 2010 without expecting the investment would be his source of wealth after five years, and his action paid off when a German company ‘Rocket Internet’ took over the website in 2015 for $170 million (equivalent to KD 50 million), indicating about ‘fifty-fold’ profits.

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