Expats cut in Kuwaitization; 198,666 Indians, Egyptians quit labor market

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KUWAIT CITY, Feb 19: The quarterly report of the Central Administration of Statistics show the Indian and Egyptian workers topped the list of expatriates leaving the local labor market in light of the “Corona” pandemic. The number of Indian workers decreased by 16.1 percent, while the percentage of Egyptians decreased by 9.8, reports Al-Rai daily. According to the opinions of experts and observers on the implementation of the replacement policy, there are clear repercussions of the “Kuwaitization” policy that a number of ministries have pushed through during the last period. The representation of Kuwaitis in the total government sector increased from 76.6 percent to 78.3 percent as a result of the departure of expatriates, and the percentage of Kuwaitis working in the private sector increased from 4.3 percent to 4.7 percent during 2021. This is mainly due to the departure of 146,949 expatriates from Kuwait during the past year, says the report.

The report indicated that the percentage of non-Kuwaiti expatriate workers in the Kuwaiti labor market decreased from 81.5 percent in 2020 to 78.9 percent in March 2021. With regard to labor statistics according to the situation at the end of March 2021, the report revealed a decrease in expatriate workers (excluding the family sector and domestic workers) at a rate of 9.3 percent, reaching 1,947,497 individuals in March 2021, a decrease of 198,666 individuals compared to their number as in March 2020. Based on the figures reported by the Statistics Department, observers of the labor market movement in the public and private sectors attributed the high percentage of Kuwaitis in the government sector to “the adoption of a number of decisions during the last period on the implementation of replacement policy and Kuwaitization plans and the endeavors to end the services of expatriate workers.”

Informed sources confirmed that the Minister of State for Municipal Affairs and the Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology Rana Al-Faris was at the forefront of the ministers who implemented the replacement policy, as she proceeded to Kuwaitize jobs by 100% within one year in the Ministry of Public Works and Public Authority for Roads and Land Transport, in addition to the Public Authority for Housing Welfare). She pointed out that a plan was implemented to terminate the services of expatriates and provide additional job opportunities for students and retirees.

The sources pointed to the role of other ministers which were concerned with the replacement file in their affiliated entities, most notably the former Minister of Commerce and Industry Khaled Al-Roudhan, who took steps in the aspect of replacing expatriates nationals in his affiliated entities, and the former Minister of Justice, Dr. Nawaf Al-Yassin, who set plans and issued decisions for Kuwaitization and replacement of jobs and the Minister of State for Municipal Affairs Waleed Al-Jassem also had played a role in the implementation of Kuwaitization in the Kuwait Municipality. The sources also noted the initiative of the Minister of Education, Dr. Ali Al-Mudhaf, who directed the recruitment of national cadres of engineers in the educational corps, which will have a major role in the replacement, especially since the largest proportion of expatriates are concentrated in the educational and medical fields.

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