Numbers Of Expat Professional Jobs In Kuwait Fading Fast

Expats living and working in Kuwait whose contracts are ending are now taking up to six months to land another position.

It’s bad news for expats who’ve invested their working lives in Kuwait and don’t want to relocate, as it’s now taking six months or more to find another job. Declining oil revenues and increasing running costs are forcing companies to either shed the numbers of expat employees or close down entirely and, even if a second job is found, the pay and conditions don’t often match up to those of the first job. As a result, it’s now an employers’ market in the UAE, as jobless expat professionals don’t have any option but to accept less money and poorer benefits if any.

The situation is also bad news for those attempting to get a job in a region considered a world expat favourite for several decades. Vacancies as well as career opportunities are down by considerable numbers, with the state of the market now resembling that of 2008 after the financial crash. Pundits are quoting financial reforms and economic transformation as the reasons, quoting the means taken to resolve the state’s budget deficit as causing a retrenchment of priorities aimed at reversing the deteriorating economic situation.

Also being blamed for the reduction in many sectors’ available jobs is the massive uptick in technological development, as is the reduction in the numbers of expats employed in multinationals headquartered in the emirate. The one aspect which hasn’t been mentioned as contributing to the fall in available jobs for expat professionals is the thorny issue of Kuwaitization and its effect on the jobs market as a whole.