Kuwait experiencing shortage of accountants

Dubai: Kuwait’s government is facing a severe shortage of accountants and the ‘crisis’ is expected to last longer than expected, Kuwaiti media reported.

According to Al Rai newspaper, more than 700 hiring requests have been received by the Civil Service Commission from some government departments.

An informed source was quoted as saying that if the Civil Service Commission does not act immediately to address the problem by opening the door for scholarships for students to pursue further studies in accountancy, the crisis will escalate and will last for a longer time than expected.

The source said that suspending scholarships for employees with accounting specialisation for a while led to a significant shortage in this position. “Suspending scholarships might be a right decision at that time to strike a balance between the supply and demand, but in light of the large number of hiring requests, it became a necessity for the Civil Service Commission to resume scholarships to keep pace with the needs of the labour market.”

Early last week, the Procapita Management Consulting issued a report saying that Kuwaiti labour market is experiencing a huge skills shortage largely due to a big gap in supply and demand, in addition to the instability of the market and the local economy, which shrank drastically because of the effect of the coronavirus pandemic.

According to the report, the labour market in Kuwait has faced great challenges during the past two years, including the lack of competencies which stood at 59.7 per cent.

The report revealed that there is a huge difference of 31.3 per cent between wages and benefits offered due to the structural imbalance in the labour market.