Kuwait: 140,000 expats left job market during first year of COVID-19 pandemic
Of those that left 39% were domestic workers
Kuwait City: Around 140,000 expats left the Kuwaiti job market during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, which began in February 2020, local media reported.
Of those that left the job market, 39 per cent of them were domestic workers.
While many expats left the job market, around 11,000 Kuwaitis joined the job market in 2020.
Although many expats have left Kuwait, statistics revealed that in 2020 there was an increase of non-Kuwaitis residing in Kuwait compared to 2019.
Increase in population
The statistics revealed that Kuwait witnessed an increase in its total population in the past year, with the current population totaling 4.67 million compared to 4.464 million, according to the Central Statistical Bureau.
In 2019, there were around 3.099 million non-Kuwaitis residing in Kuwait which increased to 3.210 million in 2020.
The number of citizens also increased compared to the previous year, where the total was at 1.365 million and increased to 1.459 million by the end of 2020.