Kuwait ministries begin ‘Kuwaitization’, 50 percent of expats to be laid off: Report

Fifty percent of expatriates working for subcontractors in Kuwaiti government ministries will be laid off in the next three months, according to a report by Kuwaiti newspaper Arab Times.

The majority of government ministries have already started “Kuwaitization” of their labor forces, a policy designed to increase the number of Kuwaitis working in government offices by laying off expatriates, according to the report.

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Expats who hold contracts that require expertise are not exempt from the new policy, but they will be phased out more gradually to ensure the quality of work does not suffer.

Many expats have already shifted into positions with subcontractors working for government ministries, the report added.

Kuwaiti Member of Parliament Khalil al-Saleh, who is also the head of the Parliamentary Human Resources Development Committee, said that concrete steps have been taken “to replace and correct the demographic problem,” adding that a meeting will be held next week in which data and statistics regarding the new policy will be discussed.

The MP also called on the Civil Services Commission to replace 100 percent of the total workforce with Kuwaitis by terminating the contracts of all expatriates, according to the Arab Times report.

More than three million expatriates currently live in the Gulf country.

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