Kuwait sheds expat workforce amid crisis

KUWAIT CITY: About 17,000 expatriate workers have cancelled their residence permits and left Kuwait in the first half of 2009 due to the impact of the global economic crisis, a Kuwaiti daily said on Thursday. Quoting informed sources in the ministry of social affairs and labor, Al-Seyassah said that more than 70 percent of the affected workers were Asians, who make up the majority of the foreign workforce in the oil-rich emirate.

The figure does not include foreign workers who may have resigned or been dismissed from government jobs or domestic service since the ministry of social affairs and labor is responsible only for employees in the private sector.

The sources said the real number of foreign workers affected by the crisis was likely to be much higher since many of those dismissed decide to stay on to look for other opportunities, in some cases illegally.

Under Kuwaiti law, no foreigner can live in the country without a valid residence permit, which is dependent on employment.

Foreigners who lose their job also lose their residence permit unless their employers grant them a grace period to find another opening.

In most cases, employers ask foreigners to cancel their residence permits before paying their end-of-service indemnity.

The number of foreign workers in Kuwait dropped by 20,000 to 1.75 million at the end of last year, according to official figures, in the first drop since the Iraqi invasion of 1990.

The Public Authority for Civil Information said the expatriate population rose a mere 0.4 percent to 2.35 million at the end of 2008, its lowest annual growth since the 1991 Gulf War in which a US-led coalition expelled the Iraqi invasion force.

The number of expatriates in Kuwait rose by 8.5 percent in 2007. 2004 saw the largest annual increase at more than 11 percent.

Like its Gulf neighbors, oil-dependent Kuwait has been hit by the global economic slowdown as oil revenues, which make up more than 94 percent of public income, have dropped sharply.

The crisis has also hit the emirate’s stock market and financial sector, with several leading investment companies defaulting on their debts. Bank profits have dropped sharply.

Kuwait’s 1.087 million citizens make up only 31.6 percent of the emirate’s population. –AFP