A crucial part of your expansion to Kuwait is considering the payments and salaries to your employees. You need to know the minimum wage in Kuwait so you can prepare good offers for your potential candidates.
Moreover, you need to ensure you are in total compliance with Kuwait new labour law 2022, otherwise, your business may face legal repercussions.
As an employer, it is essential to learn everything about the Kuwait labour law 2022 so you can offer compliant wages, benefits, and more. And this also involves dealing with the minimum wage Kuwait.
Here at Connect Resources, we understand how complex can be to stay up-to-date with legislation about wages, employment, and more. For this reason, we want to provide our service so you can relieve this burden from your HR team.
Minimum wage in Kuwait
One of the main aspects of Kuwait is that more than 90% of the local working population is employed by the government. This means that the private sector is mostly composed of foreign individuals.
The local government has made efforts to encourage citizens to participate in the private sector and for that reason, it has made several regulations, such as establishing a Kuwait minimum wage and the Kuwaitisation laws.
With the recent modifications to the Kuwait labour law 2022, the minimum wage is now 75 Kuwaiti dinars (KWD). Before 2018, the minimum wage in Kuwait was 60KWD.
When it comes to the provision about the Kuwait labour law basic salary, here we have what the law states:
- Employees’ salaries have to be stated in Kuwaiti dinars on the contract
- The salary must be paid in Kuwaiti dinars by direct deposit to the employee’s local bank account
- Employers have to submit the transfer receipts to the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour (MSAL) monthly. This is to prove that they are complying with the Kuwait labour law 2022.
- The Authorities have established a direct electronic network between MSAL and local banks to supervise and ensure salary deposits are correct and made on time.
Provisions about minimum wage in Kuwait
Kuwait enacted its employment regulation, which is the Private Sector Labour Law, No. 6 of 2010, most commonly known as the labour law. It has all the provisions that regulate relationships between employer-employees.
The main purpose of this law is to ensure compliance, and the MSAL is in charge of monitoring that employers do not commit any violations.
It is worth noting that the labour law applies to all employees. Therefore, it is applicable to workers from all nationalities.
Working hours and overtime in Kuwait
Working hours and overtime is an important part of the salary in Kuwait. Here we have the provisions about this matter in relation to private and Kuwait government jobs 2022:
- The total working hours in a week is 48.
- Employees have to work 8 hours a day
- During Ramadan, the working hours are only 36 hours per week.
- Employees cannot work for more than 5 consecutive hours a day, which means they should have a rest period that can be of an hour.
- Employees can work overtime by agreement
- The maximum overtime should be of two hours a day, and it cannot be more than three days a week
- The overtime pay for employees working a 48-hour week should be 125% of basic pay on a regular work day, 150% on a rest day, and 200% along with a day off for a public holiday.
Important considerations about wages in Kuwait
When you consider the Kuwait salary for your employees, it is important to take the following factors into account:
- The average salary in Kuwait equals $250 (70 KWD) but many employees earn much more than that
- An employer cannot pay less than the minimum wage to an employee. Otherwise, it may face consequences and it can be detrimental to the business.
- Employers have to pay wages on a monthly basis through the WPS (Wage Protection System) to the employee’s local bank.
- In Kuwait, there is no income tax on employee’s salaries
- Kuwaiti citizens have a compulsory pension scheme, equivalent to 15% of the employee’s wage. In this case, the employer pays 10% and the employee the remaining 5%.
- Employers have to provide a compliant employment contract to employees where it states all the important details about the wages, benefits, and important aspects of the salary and employment.
Why Choose Us
Connect Resources offers the best service when it comes to dealing with hiring employees, making offers, drafting employment contracts, and paying them. We are readily available to help you comply with Kuwait new labour law 2022 so you do not have to face any legal issues.
Since we have a team well-versed in the Kuwait labour law salary 2022, we can ensure you provide the best offer to your potential candidates so you can focus on growing your business and expanding across the Middle East.
