Kuwaiti civilian employment growth was steady at 5.2 per cent at the end of the first quarter of the year, said a report.

Growth has been slipping since the world financial crisis of 2008 and the growth in the first quarter of 2011 was the slowest since 2006, said the Kuwait Economic Brief.

The total Kuwaiti workforce including non-civilians increased by 16,300 during 2010, growing at a slightly slower rate of 4.8 per cent.

New civilian jobs in the first quarter of 2011 further confirm the slowing trend, even after accounting for the seasonality in first quarter figures, the report said.

The number of first time employed in the first quarter (Q1) was the smallest in over five years at 2,700; 14,600 new jobs were created in the 12 months through the end of Q1, a figure that is slightly slower than a year before (15,800).

The pace of growth in the workforce was twice as rapid as growth in the Kuwaiti working age population, which stood at 2.6 per cent in 2010. This is likely owing in part to the increased labor participation of women over the years, the brief said.

The growth lead that employment of Kuwaiti women had in prior years appears to have faded. In 2007 and 2008, as many as 60 per cent of new jobs went to women. Since then, the percent of new jobs going to women has decreased, falling to 55 per cent in 2010 and 48 per cent in Q1.

The private sector remains the largest source of first time employment; hiring of Kuwaitis by the private sector has held up quite well over the last year, even showing some improvement. In Q1, about 60 per cent of new jobs were at private employers.

Despite this, growth of the private sector Kuwaiti workforce continued to slow during the last 12 months.

Year-on-year growth fell to 7 per cent at the end of the first quarter compared to 16 per cent a year before. This may reflect a slowdown in activity in the private sector.

Nonetheless, growth in this sector remained more rapid than the overall workforce, according to the report. – TradeArabia News Service