Kuwait sees 6.6% risein national workforce

The number of working Kuwaitis increased by 17,800 during 2004, a 6.6 per cent rise from the previous year, according to statistics provided by the Public Authority for Civil Information.

This was the fastest rate of growth in seven years, a report by the National Bank of Kuwait on Population and Labour Force said.

The growth in Kuwait's labour force in 2004 reached 11.2 per cent driven by strong growth in the expatriate segment which saw a rise to 12 per cent in 2004 up from 8 per cent the previous year.

The labour force reached 1.61 million at the end of 2004 with non-Kuwaitis representing 82.2 per cent of the total.

In the Kuwaiti segment, the increase was fastest among executive government employees and clerks (12,400 or 9 per cent) while in the non-Kuwaiti segment the increase was fastest among production and operation workers (65,000 or 14 per cent) followed by workers engaged in service (48,000 or 12 per cent) and executive government employees and clerks (22,000 or 10 per cent).

Statistics also show that out of a total population of 2.75 million at the end of 2004, nearly 1.79 million or 66 per cent are expatriates while 956,000 are Kuwaiti nationals.