DOHA: Kuwait is the largest employer of nationals from other GCC states, with Qatar ranking third.
Some 35,000 GCC nationals were in 2013 working in countries within the bloc that were not their home countries, and roughly half of them were in private jobs.
Kuwait’s share alone in the overall regional employment was more than 22,500. Of these, over 12,500 were in private jobs and the remaining were engaged in the government sector.
Qatar had a total of 2,284 citizens of other GCC states working in its territory, and two-thirds of them were in government employment. Some 792 GCC citizens were in private jobs in Qatar while the number of those in state jobs was double at 1,492, QNA reported yesterday citing figures released by the General Secretariat of the GCC.
There were 13,000 GCC nationals employed by the private sector in one another’s countries in 2004. This number rose barely 29 percent to 17,000 in nine years by 2013. The number of GCC nationals in government jobs in one another’s countries had almost doubled in this period, from 9,000 in 2004 to 17,658 in 2013. Again, 65 percent of these were employed in Kuwait, followed by UAE (6,000). Qatar ranked third with a total of 1,492, or nine percent of the regional total. Bahrain had just 99 nationals of other GCC states employed in the government sector. The figures for Oman and Saudi Arabia were 44 and 23, respectively.
However, the UAE ranked third in the number of GCC nationals who were enjoying post-retirement benefits after being in government jobs. The total was 4,287.
Kuwait ranked next with a total of 4,066 followed by Qatar (1,531). The figures for Bahrain, Oman and Saudi Arabia were 61, 44 and 17, respectively.
Saudi Arabia had 1,409 other GCC nationals working in its private sector, while the UAE had 1,211.
In Bahrain, the number was 634, and in Oman, 153.
In 2013, some 17.7 million GCC nationals visited one another’s countries using their identity cards.
Saudi Arabia received the largest number (more than six million) of these visitors, followed by Bahrain (5.7 million). The UAE ranked third (1.3 million) and Qatar, fourth with almost a million.
Of the 17.7 million visitors, nearly half (8.6 million) were Saudis followed by Kuwaitis and Bahrainis (2.8 million each).
Qataris and Omanis totalled 1.2 million each while Emiratis numbered 1.1 million.
The Peninsula
