‘Huge increase seen in few years’

KUWAIT CITY, Feb 10, (KUNA): Number of Kuwaiti citizens serving in the private sector reached 72,000, a labor official announced on Sunday. Current figure is much higher than the one recorded in the year 2002, when figure of the nationals in this sector stood at 1,600 only, said Deputy Director General of the Public Authority for Manpower for the affairs of national laborers, Sultan Al-Shaalani.

Al-Shaalani was speaking on sidelines of a news conference held by the authority on Sunday, launching “for you deserve” campaign for employing citizens in the private sector.

The Kuwaitis’ employment in the private sector will be done via an electronic website during first quarter of this year under sponsorship of the Minister of Finance and Acting Minister of State for Economic Affairs Mariam Al-Aqeel. The campaign, due on 12th and 13th of this month, aims at employing 400 male and female citizens in the banking sector.

Al-Shaalani said 1,356 were interviewed, 622 passed and 256 were hired in a single day. He indicated that the campaign provides communications for job seekers with 10 major banks in Kuwait, also noting that efforts were underway to find jobs for the nationals – particularly in cars dealership.

The authority director, Ahmad Al-Moussa, affirmed keenness on aiding the young Kuwaitis to be involved and creative in the private sector. Imad Al-Ablani, manager of human resources at the National Bank of Kuwait, revealed that the NBK hired 730 Kuwaitis in the past two years.

Salma Hajaj, in charge of human resources at the Gulf Bank, noted the bank desire to employ male and female citizens. For his part, Talal Al-Mutairi, the executive manager at Kuwait Finance House, noted that employing juniors is one of the bank’s main goals.