KUWAIT: The Public Authority for Manpower told state departments concerned with unpaid salaries due to workers on government contracts that the issue needs a quick solution, along with fighting residency trade, Al-Qabas Arabic daily reported yesterday. Informed sources said the authority wrote to the Central Agency for Public Tenders to liquidate the financial guarantees of violating companies in order to pay workers their delayed salaries from these guarantees.

The sources pointed to the continuation of visa trade and violations of the labor law, adding grave violations were discovered lately. They said several guards must leave the country because they are in violation of residency laws for not renewing their work permits due to the closure of their companies' files, while others were registered on bogus companies.

Meanwhile, as efforts are being made to balance the population structure, efforts to provide more jobs to Kuwaitis continue, along with the replacement policy in the government sector. A government report revealed 12,000 Kuwaitis were employed in the private sector in 2020.

The private sector suffered a large drop in the number of workers in 2020 due to the coronavirus crisis and suspension of new work visas for expats. The drop in worker numbers includes those who left the country permanently or transferred to family residency, as around 215,000 expats from three sectors left the marketplace.