Kuwaitis Disbelieve Job Advertisements
These days, job advertisements targeting Kuwaitis are abundant. Even if these ads are genuine, they should not be interpreted as reflecting actual labor demand. Private companies and commercial institutions—whether industrial, commercial, fashion showrooms, shoe retailers, or even restaurants, which are plentiful in a country where tourism is largely based on “conspicuous consumption”—do not drive the market alone. In any country where commercial activity is tied to tourism, whether domestic or international, stimulating the market remains part of the state’s, or rather the government’s, responsibility.
Tourism in our country is currently in a hypothetical stage; we are still observing whether tourism can succeed under the current conditions, or whether ideas need to be developed and entertainment options diversified.
Kuwait is one of the countries with open doors for visitors, whether for leisure, shopping, or medical treatment at Kuwait’s private hospitals, which boast expertise comparable to hospitals in many Western or Eastern countries, staffed by top-tier medical personnel.
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The key point is that if job seekers follow up on the sources listed in these advertisements, they rarely encounter smiling, welcoming faces. Therefore, these ads are seldom credible; they are closer to marketing campaigns aimed at attracting customers than at recruiting employees.
From this, we should recognize that there is a crisis—namely, an unemployment crisis affecting the country’s sons, the citizens, most of whom are young university and institute graduates. This crisis leaves them frustrated and shocked.
There is no doubt that the government is responsible for employing the unemployed, as stipulated by the Constitution. Here, it is important to clarify that providing jobs does not necessarily mean providing positions. A position is not a charitable grant for those in need, but rather a right earned by the talented and the serious.
Therefore, in my view, job seekers should not treat newspaper and online job advertisements as serious opportunities, but rather as promotional tools designed to increase customer bases.
The government has shifted the burden of employment onto the Civil Service Bureau, as if the bureau possesses a magic wand that, once waved, opens the doors to job opportunities.
The volume of available jobs in Kuwait is smaller than the number of graduates produced annually by universities and institutes. Therefore, I believe it is necessary to slow down the pace of academic curricula and eliminate certain majors that do not align with the pace of development and innovation, because scientific progress is stronger and faster than human capacity, as well as stronger than the state’s annual plans, needs, and budgets.
In short, there is a problem in the country called unemployment, and therefore the government must find innovative sources of employment.
$ Kuwaiti journalist
