Kuwaiti government initiatives and efforts towards nationalizing labor market
The immigration rate in the Gulf Cooperation Council states (GCC) has reached such levels that locals have become a minority in the private labor force in every Gulf Cooperation Council state except Saudi Arabia. Even after the initiation of nationalization policies, this remains the case, and Ku...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
The Islamic Centre for Research and Development Inc. Sydney, Australia
2018
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://irep.iium.edu.my/71750/1/71750_Kuwaiti%20Government%20Initiatives%20And%20Efforts.pdf http://irep.iium.edu.my/71750/ http://ajisnet.org/2018/kuwaiti.pdf |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| Summary: | The immigration rate in the Gulf Cooperation Council states (GCC) has reached such
levels that locals have become a minority in the private labor force in every Gulf
Cooperation Council state except Saudi Arabia. Even after the initiation of
nationalization policies, this remains the case, and Kuwait is no exception. According
to the latest statistics from the Kuwait Public Authority for Civil Information, the
population of Kuwait hosts about 2.8 million expatriates compared to a local population
of about 1.3 million citizens. Kuwait’s dependence on expatriates has created both
opportunities and challenges for the employment of Kuwaitis in the private sector. The
expatriates are visible at almost every economic activity ranging from high-tech
engineering projects to simple daily transactions. However, the unexpectedly high
growth in population has resulted in demographic imbalances particularly when it
comes to the gender ratio. Limited research has been conducted on the Gulf
Cooperation Council states in general and on Kuwait in particular in term of efforts at
preparing nationals or local citizens for entry into the skilled workforce. Therefore, this
paper focuses on government initiatives and efforts in supporting local labor to replace
the foreigner’s works at different sector. In term of organization, this paper aims to
explore the new Economic and Political initiatives of Kuwait government for
replacement policy. The paper will also explain the forms of Kuwaitis reluctance of
working in both public and private sectors. Moreover, it discusses the current practice
of replacement policy in Kuwait. The final section of the paper presents the summary.
The research reveals some facts, among which are: 1- Kuwait’s dependence on public
sector jobs is more intense than other GCC countries, with 75.8% of Kuwaiti employees
working for the government. 2- The approach that Kuwait took to nationalize its private
labor market coincides with the one followed by other GCC countries, but with the
difference that the Kuwaiti law takes into account the nature of different sectors. 3- The Kuwaiti workforce is still concentrated in the public sector whilst migrant manpower
dominates the private sector, thus, become the dominant demographic group in society. |
|---|