KUWAIT: The Central Statistical Bureau (CSB) said yesterday the workforce in Kuwait, excluding housekeepers, hit 2,009,071 in June. The figure reflects an increase by 70,828 or 3.6 percent from the corresponding month last year, according to the CSB's quarterly report that surveyed the period ending on June 30, 2017.

The total workforce, including housekeepers, hit 2,684,334, increasing by 83,929 or 3.2 percent in this period, with the private sector remaining the main employer. The private sector absorbed 60.3 percent of the total workforce, but Kuwaiti workers represented only 4.4 percent of such workers. The Kuwaiti workforce grew from 348,792 to 358,854, an increase of 2.9 percent from June 2016, with the public sector employing 80 percent of them. The number of Kuwaitis employed by the public sector went up 3.3 percent from 277,935 to 287,236 in the period surveyed.

The number of female workers rose by 3.9 percent and male workers by 1.6 percent. Meanwhile, the ratio of Kuwaiti workforce to the total workforce went slightly down - from 18 percent in June 2016 to 17.9 percent in June. The number of non-Kuwaiti workers went up by 3.8 percent from 1,589,451 to 1,650,217. The report noted that there were no remarkable changes in the structure of various groups of nationalities working in Kuwait.

Expats from Asian non-Arab countries continue to be the largest group of workers in Kuwait, accounting for 50.3 percent, followed by those from the Arab countries, who represent 30.1 percent. The number of Indian workers in Kuwait went up by 6.6 percent, from 519,466 in June 2016 to 553,781 in June 2017, while the number of Egyptians grew by 2.4 percent to 463,804. The percentage of Kuwaiti workers with bachelor degrees went up from 35.1 to 36.8 percent, while the percentage of non-Kuwaiti workers with bachelor degrees rose from 20.5 to 22.7 percent.

According to the latest statistics of the Public Authority for Civil Information, expatriates make up 69.7 percent of the total population of Kuwait of 4.5 million with 3.1 million residents. Kuwaitis form 30.2 percent of the populace with 1.3 million citizens. - KUNA