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Kuwait plans further reduction in expat numbers
| Published: | 17 Oct at 6 PM |
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Tagged: Study Abroad, Teach Abroad
Kuwaiti lawmakers are planning to reduce expat employment in the public sector to just 10 per cent of the emirate’s entire workforce.
A report limiting the numbers of expats working in Kuwait’s public sector to 10 per cent as well as restricting expat employment to just the educational and medical sectors is being submitted to the National Assembly for approval. Observations regarding employment batches, the lack of a clear strategy for dealing with local unemployment and the effect on the changes as regards redundancy levels were all put forward for consideration. Criticisms of employers who disregarded the rules on contracts for non-Kuwaitis were also noted.
MP Saleh Ashour told lawmakers the Kuwaiti government needs only teachers, laboratory assistants and doctors, adding it will be easy to replace 35,000 expats with local labour within the next two or three years. Ashour also stated it is unreasonable to have 94,000 expats working in government departments, whilst attempting to facilitate Kuwaitization and noting he is not seeing any positive signs from government regarding the issues of replacement of expats with Kuwaitis.
Meanwhile in Oman, figures recently released by the Omani statistics office claim the numbers of educated expatriates living, working or studying in the emirate are in decline. Totals of undergraduate expatriate students have fallen by almost 10,000 over the past three years and now stand at 84,131. At the same time, the number of expats who hold diplomas has decreased by 5,008 to 48,507. Some 5,869 expats in the emirate have masters’ degrees, and the numbers of those with PhDs declined by just under nine per cent.
A report limiting the numbers of expats working in Kuwait’s public sector to 10 per cent as well as restricting expat employment to just the educational and medical sectors is being submitted to the National Assembly for approval. Observations regarding employment batches, the lack of a clear strategy for dealing with local unemployment and the effect on the changes as regards redundancy levels were all put forward for consideration. Criticisms of employers who disregarded the rules on contracts for non-Kuwaitis were also noted.
MP Saleh Ashour told lawmakers the Kuwaiti government needs only teachers, laboratory assistants and doctors, adding it will be easy to replace 35,000 expats with local labour within the next two or three years. Ashour also stated it is unreasonable to have 94,000 expats working in government departments, whilst attempting to facilitate Kuwaitization and noting he is not seeing any positive signs from government regarding the issues of replacement of expats with Kuwaitis.
Meanwhile in Oman, figures recently released by the Omani statistics office claim the numbers of educated expatriates living, working or studying in the emirate are in decline. Totals of undergraduate expatriate students have fallen by almost 10,000 over the past three years and now stand at 84,131. At the same time, the number of expats who hold diplomas has decreased by 5,008 to 48,507. Some 5,869 expats in the emirate have masters’ degrees, and the numbers of those with PhDs declined by just under nine per cent.
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