Manama: Kuwaitis make up less than 20 per cent of the total labour force in the country, official figures indicate.
According to the latest release by the Central Statistical Bureau (CSB), only 19 per cent of the people with jobs in the labour market are Kuwaitis while the other 81 per cent are foreigners from different countries, but mainly India and Egypt.
In terms of figures, the total number of people with jobs in the public and private sectors is 1,805,507, including 342,417 Kuwaitis and 1,463,090 foreigners, Kuwaiti daily Al Rai reported on Thursday.
With 188,141 in the labour market, Kuwaiti women outnumber Kuwaiti men, who number 154,276.
However, the number of foreign men who have jobs in Kuwait is way higher than that of women with 1,311,076 and 152,014 respectively.
Workers from Asian countries topped the list with 876,577, ahead of the 554,893 workers from Arab countries, but not including the Gulf Cooperation Council states — Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
India topped the list in the nationality category with 455,228 workers, ahead of Egypt with 419,088 and Kuwait with 342,417.
According to 2014 figures, Kuwaiti men made up 28.3 per cent of the total male labour market and women 39 per cent of the women’s labour market.
With the addition of the family members of the workers, foreigners make up around two-thirds of the total population estimated to be 3.3 million people.
