Muna Al-Fuzai
Muna Al-Fuzai

The local press reported that the Public Authority for Manpower is considering the issues of inefficient employment and population structure by imposing a ban on expats with university degrees entering Kuwait to work in the private sector unless they have a minimum of 'good' GPA. The report said the decision will help resolve Kuwait's demographic imbalance and restructure the local labor market, along with plans to endorse and accredit expats' degrees as a prerequisite to renewing their residency visas.

This step aims to ensure that only highly specialized and skilled people come to work in Kuwait. Other decisions will be issued in the coming months to fight visa trafficking and prevent unqualified labor from coming to Kuwait. I think that the percentage of expatriate labor is not the issue of the hour in Kuwait, but most Gulf countries are now seriously considering how to address this issue. This is because the composition of the population in the Gulf is young, as those who are under the age of 15 form about a third of the population.

It is well known that Gulf countries attracted huge numbers of expats of all nationalities with the discovery of oil, mainly due to the small number of citizens and increased economic development in the 20th century, making it an area that needed foreign labor. But the Gulf societies are now facing the perplexing reality of more of their citizens entering the labor market and the high participation rate of women, as well as an increase of expatriate labor in some administrative or non-technical jobs that can easily be occupied by citizens.

While many nationals work in the public or government sector, foreign labor is concentrated in the private sector. Despite Kuwait's attempt to introduce policies to appoint more Kuwaitis in the private sector, this does not seem to have achieved much success. In 2017, private sector employees amounted to 1.56 million, of which 4.5 percent were Kuwaiti and 95.5 percent non-Kuwaiti.

I think that despite the importance of the state to demand that those who work for them be competent, there are jobs that are not done by citizens because of low wages. So, they have to be given to unskilled labor. This has contributed to keeping prices of goods and services low and fairly stable. International Monetary Fund (IMF) statistics indicate that the annual inflation rate in the GCC countries is lower compared to other developing countries due to the role of expatriate labor.

While some believe that the presence of foreign labor may increase the demand for goods and services in the market, as expatriates are also consumers who can push the wheel of consumption, the income of many expats is limited, and a large proportion of it is usually sent abroad through remittances.

I think that the issue of migrant workers should be seen in terms of the absence of laws that apply the culture of reward for work - a principle of modern economy - in light of the concept of the welfare state, which has ensured the government employs a large number of citizens without relying on their effectiveness, which has led to the spread of masked unemployment.

I believe that the state has an important role to play in the expansion and development of the private sector. If the state wants to regulate and control the numbers of expatriate workers of different professions, it must know the actual needs of the government and the private sector of migrant labor and their jobs and qualifications so that there is no marginal employment without work. I also think there is a need to focus on economic activities that attract national labor by raising the percentages set for them. We need to be compatible between the output of education and professions for expats and Kuwaitis as well.

By Muna Al-Fuzai

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