Official data shows that about 168 thousand expatriates left the Kuwait labor market in the first 9 months of 2021 between January and September, including about 60,400 male and female domestic workers, in addition to 107,900 male and female migrant workers from the private and government sectors.
The labor market data indicated a decline in the total net employment, excluding servants and the like, by 4.55%, including 89,438 expatriates, bringing their number at the end of last September to 1.9 million, compared to 1.993 million on the first of January 2021. This is due to the decrease in the number of expatriate workers of almost all nationalities in light of the increase in the number of Kuwaiti and Syrian workers.
The Indians topped the migrant workers leaving the labor market including 48,000 male and female workers as their number in the labor market decreased from 499,400 to 451,380 thousand, an overall decrease of about 10 percent.
The Egyptians came in second place for leaving the labor market, as their numbers fell by more than 5%, and their numbers decreased from 482,000 to 456,600 during the first 9 months of 2021.
The Bangladeshis came in third place, as their numbers declined by 6%. Their number fell from 171,400 at the beginning of the year to 161,140 on September 30, while the Nepalese stood fourth and their numbers fell from 47,470 to 40,100.
The Filipino community recorded the fifth highest number of residents who left the labor market and now stand at 65,900 thousand from 70,650 from the beginning of the year until the end of September 2021; Pakistanis were in sixth whose numbers declined from 73,550 to 70,380 thousand in the first 9 months of last year; while the Iranians ranked seventh whose numbers declined by 747 bringing their numbers down from 21 thousand to 20,300, followed by Jordanians whose figure stands at 25,190 from 25,650 at the end of September 2021.
In a related context, the number of domestic workers decreased by 9% by about 60,385 thousand male and female workers, bringing their number to 608,230 male and female workers by the end of September 2021, compared to 668,615 thousand male and female workers at the beginning of the same year.
In this category the Indians ranked first followed by the Sri Lankans, then the Filipinos, Bangladeshis and Nepalese.
The labor market witnessed an increase by citizens, as 17,511 male and female citizens entered the labor market during the first 9 months of 2021, increasing their numbers by 4.3% to 424,180, compared to 406,670 on the first of January 2021.
The Syrian community also witnessed an increase among foreign workers in Kuwait, as their numbers increased by 1.5%, to reach 63,279 on September 30, compared to 62,300 Syrians on January 1, 2021.
