Kuwait to the Kuwaitis: get a job
Kuwait, Economics, 7/11/1997

It is important to provide as many as 10,000 job opportunities by the year 2002, a Kuwaiti parliamentarian was quoted by a local Arabic daily as saying. MP Abdulaziz al-Mutawa told the daily Al Watan that the National Assembly should play an active role in assisting the private sector in overcoming unemployment among Kuwaitis. At present, he revealed, only two percent of Kuwaiti manpower were employed at the private sector.

Referring to parliament's contribution to the privatization process, he said that privatization would help to correct the imbalances affecting the national economy.

Meanwhile, he disclosed that a parliamentary proposal was submitted regarding the role of the private sector in supporting the local work force.

The proposal, he added, aimed at minimizing the government's contribution to the salaries of the national work-forces employed by the private sector.

However, he added, this proposal was a starting point for the government to play a positive role in resolving the unemployment issue in the long term.

According to the proposal, the state will bear 50 percent of the salaries of citizens who join the private sector for five years. After the first five years, the state-borne proportion will be reduced to 40 percent for five years and to 30 percent for the following five years.

During the conscription service of Kuwaiti employees in the private sector, 80 percent of their salaries will be borne by the government, according to the proposal.

In this context, al-Mutawa cited the state's economic and social development five year plan for the period 1995/1996 to 1999/2000 which projects 50,000 graduates joining the Kuwaiti work force and said that this mandates the creation of 10,000 job opportunities per annum.

However, he added, that the government sector will not be in a position to provide the required number of posts. "Hence, we should seriously urge the private sector to play its role in this regard," he suggested.

In connection with this, al-Mutawa quoted the statement of the minister of planning and minister of state for the Administrative Development during January 1997, which indicated that 93 percent of employees in the public sector were Kuwaitis.

The statement also revealed that expatriates constitute 65 percent of the population of Kuwait.

Al-Mutawa said that the government is seriously thinking of increasing the provision of the first chapter of the budget pertaining to salaries and wages.

This measure is expected to be followed by another aimed at stopping recruitment at the public sector.

Commenting on the privatization process, he opined that there was a strong relation between privatization and the flaws in the national economy. He said that privatization will help the private sector to play a natural role in the country's development process and eventually overcome the unemployment issue.

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