Labour force by nationality (Kuwaiti/ non-Kuwaiti), activity sector and sector of economic activity (Male workers) (2013)

Nationality Group Kuwaitis Non-Kuwaitis Total
Economic Activity/ sector Governmental Non-governmental Total Governmental Non-governmental Total Governmental Non-governmental Total
Agriculture hunting and forestry 3 192 195 19 35,514 35,533 22 35,706 35,728
Mining and quarrying 4,300 122 4,422 430 1,464 1,894 4,730 1,586 6,316
Manufacturing 2,761 2,031 4,792 2,823 106,560 109,383 5,584 108,591 114,175
Electricity, gas and water supply 11,432 0 11,432 1,702 71 1,773 13,134 71 13,205
Construction 64 6,840 6,904 50 195,409 195,459 114 202,249 202,363
Wholesale and retail trade 138 6,599 6,737 170 258,535 258,705 308 265,134 265,442
Hotels and restaurants 84 649 733 253 59,381 59,634 337 60,030 60,367
Transport,  storage and communications 3,025 2,781 5,806 1,731 53,618 55,349 4,756 56,399 61,155
Financial intermediation 826 4,445 5,271 341 10,638 10,979 1,167 15,083 16,250
Real estate,  renting and business activities 2,544 7,359 9,903 605 82,131 82,736 3,149 89,490 92,639
Public administration and defence, compulsory social security 131,778 2 131,780 60,655 60 60,715 192,433 62 192,495
Education 6,958 364 7,322 7,024 10,203 17,227 13,982 10,567 24,549
Health and social work 3,695 241 3,936 6,508 5,115 11,623 10,203 5,356 15,559
Other community, social and personal service activities 683 1,159 1,842 2,015 72,130 74,145 2,698 73,289 75,987
Private households with employed persons 3 130 133 194 265,423 265,617 197 265,553 265,750
Extra-territorial organizations and bodies 4 3 7 1,796 521 2,317 1,800 524 2,324
Not Stated 404 16,125 16,529 817 234,056 234,873 1,221 250,181 251,402
Total 168,702 49,042 217,744 87,133 1,390,829 1,477,962 255,835 1,439,871 1,695,706

Source: PACI

 

 

ANNEXED NOTE

 

1. Characteristics of data and definitions

 

The source of data used here is the Public Authority for Civil Information (PACI), an independant government body in charge of :

1- centralising all population and labour force data in order to manage a fully computerised population register

2- issuing mandatory civil identification cards to every resident of the country, regardless of age and nationality.

 

The other source of demographic and socioeconomic data on Kuwait is the Central Statistical Office (CSO), operating within the Planning Ministry. The CSO has conducted ten population and housing censuses since its inception in 1957.

Since 1995 a marked discrepancy was witnessed between PACI’ and CSO’ population figures. PACI’ database is connected electronically with other administrations and bodies registering demographic events and professional/ residency issues (births and death; departures and arrivals; end of service, residency and ID deliveries, etc.).

PACI’s records of residents’ movements is thus regularly updated, which limits the risk of population overcount. Therefore, it is more likely that residents were undercounted during CSO- Ministry of Planning’s census operations (see: Shah, N. Population of Kuwait. Structure and Dynamics, Kuwait: Kuwait University Academic Publication Council, 2010, chapter 1).

 

(a) Kuwaiti: the Kuwaiti nationality rests upon a document of Kuwaiti nationality or a certificate proving Kuwaiti nationality issued by the Ministry of Interior of Kuwait.

 

(b) Non-Kuwaiti: his/ her nationality is determined by the name of the State having issued the passport. The foreign national also entered Kuwait legally and has a stamp of residence.

This category includes the Bidoon, a category of stateless persons living in the Emirate. Kuwait’s Bidoon population originates from three broad categories:

1) those whose ancestors failed to apply for nationality or lacked necessary documentation at the time of Kuwait’s independence in 1961;

2) those recruited to work in Kuwait’s army or police force during the 1960s who permanently settled in Kuwait, along with their families;

3) children of Kuwaiti mothers and stateless or foreign fathers (see Human Rights Watch. Prisoners of the Past. Kuwaiti Bidun and the Burden of Statelessness, June 2011, p. 3).

 

(c) Population in the labour force: population aged 15 years and above, included in the labour market, either employed (in the government or private sector, as itinerant worker, employed in the domestic sector), or unemployed.

 

(d) Government sector: any organization of the government (organizations, authority and departments), included within the state budget

(Ministries and government departments; authorities with attached budgets; authorities with independent budgets).

 

(e) Non-governmental sector: any part of the private sector (a company or an individual) or any authority of the non-governmental sector.

 

(f) Domestic sector: the household/ family sector, where the work is associated with the residence and its inhabitants, their service and their comfort (including maids, nannies, cooks, drivers, etc.).

The “domestic sector” data is merged with the “non-governmental sector”. A proxy estimate of workers in the domestic sector can be inferred from the number of workers in the category “Private households with employed persons”, or see table http://gulfmigration.eu/employed-population-by-nationality-kuwaiti-non-kuwaiti-activity-sector-and-sex-2013/ .

 

Presented data include unemployed population.

 

Economic activities are categorised according to ISIC( Rev. 3) international classification of occupations.

 

Note: figures of expatriates differ slightly between PACI’s various sources of data (database; tabulated data).

 

2. Institution which provides data

 

The Public Authority for Civil Information (PACI)

 

3. Period of data coverage: December 2013

 

The database is updated three times a year and the website presents only the most recent data.

 

4. Data availability

 

The statistics section of PACI’s website (http://www.paci.gov.kw/en/ (English); http://www.paci.gov.kw/ (Arabic)) provides population and socio-economic data broken down by nationality (Kuwaiti/ non-Kuwaiti). Some data are displayed by nationality groups.

Analytical tables and data crosstabulations are available for download in PDF, html, .png and Excel (.csv) formats.

 

Date of access: April 2014.