The committee tasked to address the demographic structure issue and develop the labor market held its first meeting on Thursday. Headed by Interior Minister Sheikh Talal Al-Khaled Al-Sabah, the committee also adopted the necessary bylaws to help implement a law issued in 2020 aimed at reducing the number of expats and creating more jobs for Kuwaiti citizens.

The law aims at amending the imbalance in the population structure by reducing the number of expats, who currently form nearly 70 percent of the country’s 4.5 million.

The committee issued a decision making it obligatory for cooperative societies to speed up the process of appointing only Kuwaitis in senior positions at the societies, and increase the mandatory percentage of Kuwaiti employees to create around 3,000 new jobs for nationals. The committee issued a decision requiring the Public Authority of Manpower to design special training programs for Kuwaitis to develop their skills and enable them to find appropriate jobs in the private sector.