KUWAIT CITY, April 19: According to labor market figures issued by the Central Statistical Bureau, young citizens dominate in the government sector, as the rate of Kuwaiti government employees who are under the age of 35 years is about 48.4 percent of the total Kuwaitis working in this sector. This opens the door to the question whether or not this number constitutes a dilemma in the face of government employment in the future, reports Al-Qabas daily.

According to observers, the expansion of the number of young Kuwaiti employees, compared to older ones, means that the length of stay of current employees in the government sector is due to the large time gap between them and the age required for retirement in the government sector, which affects the sector's capabilities to absorb new employees.

Returning to the statistics, the figures show that the number of Kuwaiti employees in the government sector within the age group of 20 to 24 years is 19.7 thousand employees, representing 5.6 percent of the total Kuwaitis in the sector. Within the category of 25 to 29 years, it reached 76.6 thousand Kuwaiti employees, or 21.8 percent of the total Kuwaitis. In the category of 30 to 34 years old, their number reached 73.7 thousand Kuwaiti employees, or 21 percent of the total Kuwaitis.

On the other hand, the figures revealed that about 65.1 thousand Kuwaiti employees in the government sector are aged between 35 and 39 years, which constitutes 18.5 percent. About 49.7 thousand employees, constituting 14.1 percent, are between 40 and 44 years, and about 35.6 thousand Kuwaitis are aged between 45 and 49 years, constituting 10.1 percent.

The statistics revealed that the percentage of Kuwaiti employees in the government sector who are over 50 years old reached 8.9 percent, the majority of whom are in the age group from 50 to 54 years, with a total of 20,2 thousand employees, while the number of Kuwaiti workers who are over 65 years old in the government sector is 1,416 male and female employees.

As for non-Kuwaitis working in the government sector, most of them are between the ages of 35 and 49 years old, constituting nearly 57 percent out of the total non-Kuwaitis in the government sector, whose total number is about 89,000.

The statistics indicated that about 10 percent of the expatriates are aged between 50 and 54 years.  The expatriates who were over 55 years old accounted for 12.4 percent, of whom 1,397 male and female employees are over 65 years old, representing 1.6 percent of the total non-Kuwaitis working in the government sector.