Kuwait lacks qualified manpower to fill hundreds of vacancies in government agencies, says MP

Kuwait is facing social and economic problems related to unemployment with 75 per cent of job-seekers unqualified, according to a report in the Arab Times, an English daily in Kuwait.

"Out of the 21,380 waiting for jobs, 15,840 do not possess the necessary qualifications and most of them are women, especially housewives," said MP Waleed Al Tabtabaei, convenor of the Employment and Job Opportunities Affairs Committee.

Around 5,000 qualified job-seekers are waiting for the right jobs while around 9,303 jobs are waiting to be filled in the government sector but there are no qualified or interested applicants to fill them, he explained.

The Committee held its fourth meeting chaired by MP Nasser Al Sane Wednesday and discussed the state employment programme in compliance with the GMRP's aim to encourage citizens to join the private sector.

"Most of the jobs are mainly in health and education sectors. Many health centres are badly in need of doctors, nurses, and technicians with no qualified Kuwaitis to fill these jobs. Also, a lot of specialities at the education sector are suffering shortages and no Kuwaiti teachers are available to occupy these teaching positions," said Al Tabtabaei.

"There is a serious imbalance between actual unemployment and availability of jobs." He blamed training departments and higher education institutes as directly responsible for the phenomenon.

"The government's report was ambiguous on how to address the problem and has no effective information drive towards changing the perception of the society towards accepting technical and blue collar jobs and the concept of free enterprise," he said, adding, "We should not be lenient in implementing the Percentage Law in the private sector because a retreat in this regard will narrow the chances of job-seekers in the private sector."