KUWAIT: A new report from the parliamentary information and research committee has called for changes to public sector employment legislation , suggesting that around 60,000 expatriates working in Kuwait's public sector could be replaced by Kuwaiti personnel.

Revealing that the number of unemployed citizens has risen since 2000 to 5.9 percent of the Kuwaiti population, a total of 20,000 people, the report warned that this number is set to increase due to the large youth population, with 50 percent of Kuwaitis currently being aged under 19. It adds that an average of 27,000 Kuwaitis are set to enter the country's labor market annually.

The report called for labor legislation to be amended in view of these findings, saying that the current laws have "harmed national manpower by creating an illusory parallel market of employing [Kuwaiti] citizens in the private sector only for the purpose of benefiting from the social and other allowances.

The report also called for increases in the fines imposed on private firms for breaking the laws on employing a mandatory minimum percentage of Kuwaiti employees, proposing that they be raised from KD 100 to KD 500. Also included in the report was a proposal that older employees be invited to take early retirement so that younger citizens could be given greater opportunities.

The report also called for more opposition to the phenomenon of residency visa trafficking, as well as urging that greater attention be paid to liaising between graduates and the labor market in order to tailor the graduates' qualifications to the labor market's needs.

It also proposed that programs to support the establishment of small businesses be introduced, reported Al-Watan. The number of unemployed citizens has risen since 2000 to 5.9 percent of the Kuwaiti population, 20,000 in total, the report revealed. - Kuwait Times