The population of Kuwait in 2020 witnessed the highest annual rate of decline in nearly 30 years, as the number of expatriates declined sharply, while the number of Kuwaiti citizens continued to increase, Al Qabas daily reported.
According to the report of the National Bank of Kuwait, more expat workers are expected to leave the country in the coming period, as the proposed changes to the residency law are underway, and there is the continued implementation of job nationalization policies, and companies are compelled to lay off their employees as they suffer financial difficulties due to anti covid measures.
The report said: “Our estimates, which are based on scientific qualifications data issued by the Public Authority for Civil Information (PACI), indicate that about 95% of expatriate workers who lost their jobs were among the workers with simple skills, which represents a slightly higher rate than their share in the total number of expatriate workers in the private sector”.
According to the latest demographic data issued by PACI, the population of Kuwait decreased by 2.2% year on year in 2020 to 4.68 million people, after an increase of 3.3% in 2019, and this change is due to the modest growth in the number of Kuwaiti citizens AT 2% and the sharp drop in the number of arrivals by 4%. Meanwhile, the proportion of expatriates to the total population decreased to 68.7%, which is the lowest levels recorded in seven years.
Since the start of the pandemic and the subsequent imposition of precautionary measures and closures, more than 130,000 expatriates have left the country, after the economic slowdown caused by the pandemic forced some companies to reduce the workforce. In addition, job losses and the rise in the cost of living have also compelled some expats to send their families to their home countries, as the number of expatriates joining the family decreased by 0.4% year-on-year in 2020 after declining by 0.3% in 2019.
The biggest drop for jobs
After growing the total number of jobs by 4.9% year-on-year in 2019, it is back to record in 2020 its biggest decline in nearly 30 years by 4.2%. This is reflected in the growth of employment among Kuwaiti citizens at a modest rate and a sharp decline in the jobs of expatriate workers. The employment growth rate of Kuwaiti citizens decreased from 2.4% in 2019 to 2.1% in 2020, in light of the repercussions of the pandemic, which severely affected the private sector (-1.2%). On the other hand, the public sector performed well (+ 2.7%) compared to the private sector, in part due to the Kuwaitization efforts.
On the other hand, the employment of expatriates decreased by 5.2% in 2020, after an increase of 5.4% in the previous year due to the decline in job opportunities in both the public (-3%) and the private (-5.3%) sectors. However, looking at the total number, domestic worker jobs were less affected given a drop of only 1.5% in 2020. This is in part due to the government permitting domestic workers to start returning to the country as soon as flights resumed, and excluding domestic workers from the expat ban to the country. However, the number of expatriate workers decreased by 6.7% due to the sharp decline in private sector employment activities (-7% compared to + 2.2% in 2019).
Steep decline
Al-Watani explained that the main reason behind the decline in the pace of expatriate employment in the private sector (with the exception of domestic workers) lies in the sharp decline in the construction sector jobs (12.9% on an annual basis) and real estate (6.3%), in line with the weak activity in certain projects and less demand for housing during the pandemic period. The number of expatriate workers in other sectors also decreased by 6%, while in hotels and restaurants it is by 3.4%. This trend highlights that the huge numbers of expatriate workers with low wages and limited skills have been the most affected by the repercussions of the pandemic.
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