The Manpower Problem in Kuwait

Shamlan Y. Alessa

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9781138065352
• eBook ISBN: 9781351660341
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Regional Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

The period since the Second World War saw a spectacular transformation of the Kuwaiti economy, making it one of the world's major oil states with one of the highest per capita incomes. This rapid transformation, however, has brought with it attendant problems. This book, first published in 1981, examines the critical issue of the Kuwaiti labour force: some three-quarters of it is expatriate labour, and the Kuwaiti portion suffers from a high illiteracy rate. Dr Alessa isolates the various factors responsible for Kuwait's manpower problems, and puts forward a number of original solutions.

Chapter 1

Pre-oil Kuwait

Geography

Kuwait is a small Arab state located at the north-west corner of the Arabian Gulf. Bounded by Iraq to the north and Saudi Arabia to the west and south, it has an area of 17,280 sq. km, excluding the Neutral Zone, an area of mainly sand and desert with an off-shore area of nine islands.¹ Kuwait shares the Neutral Zone with Saudi Arabia and the area is administered jointly by the two countries. The natural resources of the zone are shared by the two countries.²

Kuwait has a natural bay extending 45 kilometers westward into the state. It was this natural bay, together with its geographical location, that helped Kuwait to become a major trade center in the Gulf area prior to the discovery of oil.

People

The Arab population of Kuwait originates mainly from the Najd region of Arabia. The first tribe to settle in present-day Kuwait was the Beni Khalid, in 1688. It was followed by other tribes, among them the Utubi tribe, which is descended from the famous Arab tribe the Anaizz, originating from central Arabia. The ruling family of Kuwait - the Al Sabah family — and other merchant families in Kuwait belong to these tribes.³

Once Kuwait had become established as a major trade center in the Gulf area, Persian and Indian people began to settle there. The Persian community in Kuwait is in fact one of the oldest and, unlike the Arab majority, that follows the Suni sect of Islam, adheres to the Shia sect of Islam. Integration of the two communities in Kuwait continues to be hindered by their respective clan and tribal attitudes. Intermarriage among the two communities is almost non-existent.⁴

Prior to 1948 there was a small Jewish community in Kuwait but this disappeared with the establishment of the State of Israel in that year.

Social stratification among the various tribes was predominant. The tribes that bred camels were considered the noblest, while the tribes that bred sheep and goats were considered to be of lower status;⁵ farming and manual work were the least respected, and were actually deplored by the Bedouin Arabs.⁶ The following story further illustrates this point:⁷

About fifty years ago, the tale goes, Shaikh Mubarak Al Sabah, who was then the Amir, saw a Bedouin coming through one of the city gates leading a number of donkeys loaded with sacks of burned lime. The Shaikh approached the man, looked at him carefully, and said, ‘Aren’t you a member of the Ajman? ’ The Ajman were among the most noble tribes in the country and a branch of the Sharif, who could trace their ancestors back for centuries.

The Bedouin admitted that he was an Ajman, and the Shaikh said, ‘You must know that an occupation such as burning lime shames a man of your quality.’

‘My family and I had nothing to eat,’ the Bedouin pleaded. ‘We were near starvation. This was the only work I could find to support myself and my family.’

But Shaikh Mubarak would accept no excuses. ‘You have lowered yourself in the sight of God and your fellow tribesmen,’ he said, ‘I order you to abandon this unclean work immediately.’

Attitudes such as this have been modified somewhat but in general Kuwaitis still tend to look down on manual labor. This attitude can be traced to the Bedouin dislike of settled life, as perceived through the peasant who uses his hands. As Raphael Patai has put it:⁸

One of the basic features of the Bedouin ethos is a contempt for all physical labor with the exception of tending of the livestock and raiding, which are considered the only fitting occupations for free men.

Although great economic changes have occurred in Kuwait during the post-war years, tribal and clan relationships continue to prevail. It is not uncommon to hear a young graduate speak proudly of his tribal ancestry. One can, furthermore, still witness the ‘separation of tribes’, in which it is considered taboo to intermarry into a tribe that does not meet your tribe’s standards (i.e. belong to a well known Arab tribe).⁹

Tribal and family loyalties were reflected in the administration of Kuwait prior to its independence, when major posts were held by members of the ruling family and by other members of the merchant class.¹⁰

The merchant class attempted to reform the autocratic system of rule. Their limited success can be traced back to 1921 when they demanded from the new Amir, Shaikh Ahmed Al Jaber Al Sabah (1921-50), the formation of a Consultative Council. The merchants’ demands were met and they elected twelve members, who were representatives of prominent Kuwaiti families. Unfortunately, the council was short lived as a result of internal disputes among its members. Thereafter, Kuwait continued to be run as it had been in the past.¹¹

A second attempt at establishing a legislative assembly took place during 1937-8, when a fourteen-member council was selected from the merchant society and this council drafted a constitution calling for the election of a twenty-member council by the people.¹² Article 3 of the five-point document drafted by the council stated: ‘All internal concession and lease monopolies as well as external agreements and treaties cannot be considered legal and binding unless approved by the elected legislative assembly.’¹³

There was disagreement between the Amir and the council, however, and it was dissolved as a consequence. Despite its short-lived history, however, the legislative assembly succeeded in establishing a government department, which is considered by some to be the beginning of the modem Kuwaiti administrative structure.¹⁴

The economy

Kuwait’s basic lack of resources (apart from oil) and its geographical location forced its population to depend heavily on the sea as the major source of livelihood and trade, pearl-diving and boat-building flourished in the Gulf area prior to the discovery of oil.

Trade

The favorable geographical location of Kuwait helped the population to become amongst the foremost traders in the Gulf region. In 1831 Lorimer, a British employee of the Indian Civil Service who travelled in the Persian Gulf, put Kuwait’s share in the Gulf trade at $500,000 in imports and $100,000 in exports.¹⁵

Around 1863 Kuwait’s imports from India (mainly Bombay) were 2 lakhs rupees (200,000) in value, while its exports reached 4 lakhs (400,000) rupees in value. As the Acting Political Resident and Consul General in the Persian Gulf at the time, Lewis Pelly, reported:¹⁶

Here is a clean, active town, with a broad and open main bazzar and numerous solid stone dwelling houses stretching along this strand, and containing some 20,000 inhabitants, attracting Arab and Persian Merchants from all quarters by the equity of its rule and by the freedom of its trade. It imports from Malabar and Bombay some two Lackhs of Rupee Value, principally in Longcloths, rice, coffee, planks and spices. It exports some 800 horses at an average value of 300 rupees each, 40,000 rupees worth in miscellanies or say approximatley nearly four lackhs of rupees worth of exports against two and a half Lackhs of imports.

Kuwaiti merchants would transport the cargo of other nations in the Gulf area to India and Africa. The business of trans-shipment flourished in Kuwait, whereby Kuwaiti merchants exported goods to neighboring countries, mainly Iraq and Saudi Arabia: during the period 1940-5, for instance, Iraq imported 17 per cent of its goods through Kuwait.¹⁷ The re-trade with Saudi Arabia at the time was so substantial that the Saudi Arabian ruler asked the Kuwaiti merchants to collect taxes from the Saudi merchants and have the money repaid to him. The Kuwaiti merchants, however, refused to comply, stating that trade must be free and that they therefore did not have the right to tax other people. The Saudi Arabian ruler reacted by prohibiting Saudi merchants from trading with Kuwait.¹⁸

Besides its good harbor, Kuwait’s low taxes — import duties were between 4 and 6 per cent — provided a further reason for its flourishing trade and trans-shipment. During the years 1938-9 public revenue totalled £60,000 and two-thirds of this amount came from import duties.¹⁹ The government taxed the trans-shipment goods.

Although trade in Kuwait flourished prior to the discovery of oil, Kuwait remained basically a very poor country. The average personal income d...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1 Pre-oil Kuwait
• 2 Manpower in Kuwait
• 3 Foreign manpower
• 4 Education and manpower
• 5 Toward manpower planning in Kuwait
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index