Kuwait Employment and Career News
Kuwait witnesses huge outflow of expatriate workers
About 17,000 expatriate workers have cancelled their residence permits and moved out of Kuwait during the first half of the year, owing to impact of global economic crisis.
The Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour, Al-Seyassah, revealed that more than 70 percent of the workers were Asians, who constitute majority of expatriate workforce in Kuwait.
The figure, however, is not inclusive of foreign workers who may have resigned or who may have been dismissed from government jobs or domestic services as the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour is responsible only for employees in the private sector.
According to sources, the actual numbers of expatriate workers affected by the crisis were much higher, as several of the dismissed decided to stay on and look for opportunities elsewhere, or even illegally.
As per the Kuwaiti regulation, no foreigner is permitted to stay in the country without a valid residence permit, which is dependent on employment. Foreigners, who lose their jobs, also lose their residence permit, unless their employers grant them a grace period to find another opening.
In several cases, employers ask foreigners to cancel their residence permits before paying their end-of-service indemnity.
So far the numbers of foreign workers in Kuwait have reduced by 20,000 till end of last year. The Public Authority for Civil Information said that the expatriate population increased by a mere 0.4 percent, touching 2.35million by end of last year, the lowest annual growth since the 1991 Gulf war.
The years 2007 and 2004 saw an increase of 8.5 percent and 11 percent increase respectively in expatriate population.
Just as is the case with its Gulf neighbours, the oil-dependent State of Kuwait has been hit hard by the global economic recession, as oil revenues that make-up 94 percent of its public income declined sharply.
Among the total 1.087million citizens in Kuwait, only 31.6 percent are the emirate’s population. Among the expatriate population, Asians constitute 1.33million, Arabs 971,000, while Europeans, Australians and Americans constitute 35,000 of the population.
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