The Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry said “most of the legislation related to regulating the labor market in Kuwait was — in one way or another — as reactions to political, security or social conditions or pressures, aimed at modifying the demographic structure more than it aimed at reforming the labor market.
Sources in the KCCI indicated this has led to “the weakness and absence of realistic economic considerations, and consequently, its inability to achieve its goal,” reports Al-Rai daily.
In a memorandum prepared by the Chamber on the draft executive regulations of Law 74/2020 regarding regulating the demographics, the KCCI affirmed that “it is not correct to focus on reducing expatriate workers apart from developing the capabilities and size of the national workforce,” noting that “future professions will be highly skilled and highly paid, commensurate with the national workforce with a level of advanced education.”
The Chamber indicated that technological developments will lead to the generation of new professions that depend on scientists and data analysts, artificial intelligence, information security, and others, considering that the emergence of these professions and the extinction of thousands of current traditional professions will be a double-edged sword in Kuwait.
“These future professions are highly skilled and highly paid. And it is commensurate with national workers with a level of advanced education, but the education and training system in Kuwait is still far short of meeting the needs of future professions, and the legitimate fear here is that this educational training system will lead to most future professions going to expatriate workers.