Mr Bander Al Rashed acting secretary general of Manpower and Government Restructuring Program said that the total number of layoffs from the private sector firms in Kuwait is no more than 900.

Mr Al Rashed said that “The MGRP leaders predicted the unemployment problem before its emergence. So they were able to develop solutions at an early stage and find alternative jobs that suit the specializations of the layoffs.”

He said that “The MGRP tendered a field study to the Civil Service Commission which in turn tendered the study to the cabinet. The cabinet adopted Decree No. 568 on the formation of a joint panel consisting of representatives of the MGRP, the CSC, the PASS and the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour to further study the situation.”

He added that the panel, chaired by Mr Mustafa Al Shimali finance minister of Kuwait realized that the number of on the layoffs between October 2008 and June 30th 2009 was almost equal to the figures of the corresponding period of 2008.

Mr Al Rashed said that “The labor force at local firms was not much affected by the financial crisis and the number of those who lost their jobs is far less than reported figures of mass media.”

He added that “The figure 900 includes the workers who have been reemployed by other private firms and those who launched their own enterprises.”

Meanwhile, Mr Abdulrahman Al Mansouri a consultant at the MGRP said that said the average number of layoffs in the private sector in each quarter of a year ranged between 425 and 598.

He said that “The net figure of the layoffs who do not return to work represents less than 5% percent of the total Kuwaiti workers in the private sector.”

Mr Al Mansouri noted that more than 50% of the layoffs are usually reemployed by their original employers or other ones. Some 80% of the layoffs are not highly educated and 22% are pensioners.”

He revealed that “All data reveal that there is no unemployment phenomenon in Kuwait and that the number of Kuwaiti workers at private firms grew by 12.4% in Q2 of 2009 compared with the figures of the same period of 2008.”

He said that the number of employees in private sector the Q1 2009 went up 46.5% against the same period of 2008.

(Sourced from Arabianbusiness.com)