Over 1,000 oil jobs set for ‘Kuwaitisation’ in 2024
Kuwait steps up efforts to create jobs for citizens and redress demographic imbalance
Cairo: Some 1,211 jobs in Kuwait’s oil sector are planned to be filled by Kuwaitis this year as the country seeks to provide more jobs to its citizens, according to a media report.
An employment policy for Kuwaitis, dubbed “Kuwaitisation”, entails 1,211 jobs in the state-owned Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) and its subsidiaries, Al Anba reported.
The biggest share of the “to-be-Kuwaitised” jobs are at the Kuwait Oil Company with 629, followed by the Kuwait Integrated Petroleum Industries Company with 507, the report said.
Meanwhile, the Oil Kuwait Gulf Company and the Kuwait Petroleum International, subsidiaries of the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, are currently studying an employment plan for Kuwaiti manpower with KPC, according to the report.
Kuwait boasts a public sector workforce of around 483,200, with foreigners making up 23% of this total – the highest proportion among the Gulf Cooperation Council countries.
Kuwait’s Public Authority for Civil Information data from February 2024 puts the combined government and private sector workforce at 1.9 million, with 75% employed in the private sector.
Foreigners currently constitute approximately 3.2 million of Kuwait’s 4.6 million population, according to a recent census.
In recent years, Kuwait has intensified efforts to create jobs for its citizens, replace foreign employees, and address the demographic imbalance in the country.
Kuwaiti authorities have toughened measures against illegal foreign residents and warned that any expatriate covering up an unlawful resident will be deported too.
Last year, Kuwait deported a record 42,000 expatriates due to violations of its residence and labour laws as well as for involvement in crimes, Al Qabas newspaper has reported.