KUWAIT: In an ongoing effort to adjust the population structure and regulate the job market, the Public Authority of Manpower has temporarily halted the renewal of work permits of thousands of expatriates across various sectors to ensure the authenticity of their academic certificates and to verify that their roles align with their job descriptions.
The authority has also initiated stricter scrutiny of job descriptions within the legal sector. Additionally, it has revised the regulations to specify that the title of "legal researcher” is reserved for expatriates with a law degree from an accredited university. Furthermore, the issuance of job descriptions in the media sector is now subject to approval by the ministry of information.
Simultaneously, the manpower authority has given its approval to a project by the Kuwait Engineers Society that aims to enhance the validation of labor in the construction, infrastructure and related engineering sectors. This project includes a program for validating engineering jobs, which has revealed numerous cases of fraudulent labor certificates in various engineering professions.
Meanwhile, according to an official report, the total number of Kuwaiti citizens registered as job seekers in the automated systems of the Public Authority of Manpower has reached 17,307. The desire for government jobs among registered citizens has been prominent, surpassing the private sector’s preferences, constituting 32.2 percent of the total registered citizens, with a total of 5,588 jobseekers.
The cumulative number of jobseekers registered with the authority for more than 6 months, currently not employed, not receiving a pension and not enrolled in any educational institutions, stands at 18,926 citizens. A noteworthy 56 percent of them hold university degrees, along with 306 individuals holding master’s degrees and 9 with doctorates.
The report indicates a decline in the number of jobseekers on the authority’s system who possess a secondary certificate with a one-year cycle or one year of experience. Enrollment in vocational qualification, parallel education and those with below-average qualifications, with at least two years of experience, has also been limited. The number of diploma holders is substantial, with 4,198 jobseekers, and 1,072 individuals holding a secondary school diploma with a two-year or longer course.
In addition, the labor market system’s report reveals that the total number of registered national workers in the private sector amounts to 71,833 Kuwaitis. The total number of individuals with insurance coverage in the private sector has reached 49,764 citizens, while the number of insured individuals pertaining to small and medium enterprise owners has increased to 16,846 entrepreneurs. Furthermore, there are 21,000 Kuwaiti citizens employed in state-owned oil companies, with an additional 1,664 individuals insured in the oil sector.