Dirty Dinar

Since news broke out that the government was considering increasing salaries, the co-ops have raised the prices of goods. Buying the weekly groceries has been more expensive than ever before and some believe the government has no choice but to increase salaries.

The Kuwait Times reports:

Government officials recently disclosed that they had almost finalized the salary increases that would include all Kuwaiti employees in government and private sectors as well as all those who receive social aid and retired employees.

Looks like we’re going to be getting raises soon. This will probably be the last increase for a long time. Any guesses how much the increases will be for the varying sectors? Of course, my interests lie in knowing how much the private sector will be getting.

Today’s Kuwait Times featured the article below. I didn’t realize that the number of women in the private sector was so low. Is it possible that only 5% of Kuwaiti women work in the private sector? I’m proud to be one of them but that percentage seems really low! I can’t help but think this is inaccurate. I know plenty of women who own their own businesses and work in the private sector.

KUWAIT: Kuwait is in the forefront of Arab countries in view of women’s participation in labor force by 42 per cent in line with 2006 statistics, an Arab economist said here yesterday.

The percentage of Kuwaiti women’s involvement in labor force is continuously on the increase, having recorded roughly 37 percent and 42 percent in 2003 and 2006 respectively, Riyad bin Jalili, an economist at the Arab Planning Institute (API), told a symposium on women and development in the Arab world.

Most working women, who are university graduates, are concentrated in the public sector by around 95 percent, he said. In spite of the high percentage of Kuwaiti women’s participation in labor force, leading state posts are often inaccessible to them, having stood up at merely six percent in 2004, Jalili added.

Kuwaiti working women’s diversified presence in the labor market is still meager if compared to other Arab countries, he said, arguing that the upward trend of women’s education has a limited impact on their diversified involvement in the labor market. They account for 45 percent in administrative professions, 24 percent in teaching and just four percent in medicine and science.

However, divorced women were more active than married ones in terms of economic activities in 2006, he said. Joblessness among Kuwaiti females and males hit 5.2 percent and 2.7 percent respectively in 2006, he added. — KUNA

Published Date: January 23, 2008 in the Kuwait Times

Kuwait looks to be following in the path the United Arab Emirates set last November. In November 2007 the UAE announced that they will be increasing government salaries by 70%. Of course, they have inflation to compete with.

In Kuwait, people always want more money or their loans dropped. Time will tell how much of an increase public sector employees will receive. I’m more interested in the last sentence of the article.

KUWAIT: Minister of Finance Mustafa Al-Shamali said the government is focusing on the issue of increasing the salaries of all government employees before the end of February 2008. Al-Shamali said the Word Bank has prepared a study about the salary raise issue and the study will soon be sent to the Civil Service Commission (CSC). The study will have information such as the average income of government employees in various sectors and departments, the size of price increases and inflation rates, the financial amounts needed to be able to cover these increases, and other types of important information related to this issue.

Al-Shamali said after the report has been reviewed by the CSC, it will then be submitted to the Cabinet so it can be approved. He expects that the salary raises will be issued on or before Kuwait’s celebration of independence and liberation day, which is at the end of February.

Al-Shamali did not give any details about how much the increase would be and did not say whether the salary raises would be one fixed amount or would vary depending on government positions or departments. He said it is not possible to specify a certain amount with the World Bank’s report. “But God willing, the salary raise will cover everyone and will satisfy everyone as well,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Interior Sheikh Jaber Al-Khaled said the government is concentrating on this issue and the employees of the Ministry of Interior, whether soldiers, officers, or civilian employees, will have their salaries reviewed.

The minister promised that a full study about the salaries of Interior Ministry employees would be prepared and he noted that the employees from this ministry deserve the salary increase.

In another development, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor’s committee for expatriate work affairs said they have achieved many feats in a short span of time.

One achievement of the committee was a preparation of a study about minimum wages in Kuwait and a study about issuing commercial licenses in accordance to local labor market needs. The committee said they also aim to further develop the private labor sector.

Published Date: January 07, 2008