KUWAIT (Middle East Eye) – More than a quarter of a million expatriates permanently left Kuwait in 2021, new government data showed, according to Al-Qabas newspaper.
A report issued by the Civil Information Authority and the Labor Market System revealed that 257,000 expatriates left the country, including 205,000 workers in the private sector and 7,000 in government agencies.
The new data comes two years after the government began efforts to reduce the number of foreign workers in the country.
Parliamentary and popular pressure was put on the government at the time after widespread discussions on the negative impact of expatriates on the demographic structure of Kuwait.
In 2020, Kuwaiti sources revealed that the government plans to phase out half of its foreign workforce within five years, according to the newspaper.
Kuwaitis constitute only 16.2 percent of the 2.7 million people in the labor market.
A large proportion of expatriates work as domestic staff, with a total of 639,000 domestic workers, constituting 22.8 percent of the labor force.