JEDDAH, 15 July — A database set up by the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs gathering information on private sector employees has so far covered more than 2.1 million Saudi and non-Saudi workers.
Officials at the ministry attributed the slowness of the process to problems associated with private sector companies that are required to provide information about their workers.
Dr. Saad ibn Abdul Rahman Al-Ammar, director general of the Saudi Employment Department at the Ministry, said problems associated with the project stem from the sheer volume of work. Some companies delay sending data while others send incomplete or incorrect data.
Estimates vary on the number of expatriate workers in the Kingdom in general and the total number of employees in the private sector. The sector remains the largest employer of non-Saudi workers prompting the government to launch a Saudization drive aimed at gradually replacing non-Saudis with citizens.
According to figures released by the Ministry of Planning, the Kingdom’s population in 1999 was 19.9 million of whom 14.9 are Saudis. The non-Saudi male population of the country was put at 3.347 million.
Last year the authorities launched a manpower development fund which Labor and Social Affairs Minister Dr. Ali Al-Namlah said would facilitate the employment of young Saudi graduates in the private sector by providing training and skill-enhancing programs. The fund which is expected to become functional over the coming few months will finance the training of Saudis in private companies until they become fully qualified to take up jobs.
Dr. Al-Ammar said the ministry was putting in strenuous efforts to complete the database and appealed to local firms to respond positively to the project which is vital to the country’s development plans.
“We are doing our best to expedite the operation and complete the process. The database started two years ago feeding information manually. In view of the large volume of the work we designed special software programs to store data in diskettes that can be distributed to companies. This process helped a lot but the real problem lies in the slow response from companies. We also have to check and verify all the information we receive,” Dr. Al-Ammar told Arab News from his office in Riyadh.
He could not set a timetable for completing the operation saying this is an ongoing process that involves numerous unforeseen factors.
“Our target is to cover all employees in the private sector, whether Saudis or non-Saudis, who fit the specification. We continue to receive a large number of replies every week.”
The fund is expected to be operational in a few months. Its establishment was in response to calls for revitalizing the system of Saudization and removing obstacles that stood in the way of employing citizens in the private sector.
It is hoped the fund would encourage private companies to employ young Saudi graduates and increase the rate of Saudi employees. The government said it wanted to see this rate increase by five percent annually.
A private study has shown that around 30,000 new jobs are created for Saudis every year while 100,000 young Saudis enter the job market. The Manpower Council has put unemployment at 14 percent, with some 614,000 unemployed Saudis looking for suitable jobs.
The current Five-Year Development Plan (2000-2005) aims to provide employment to 817,000 citizens through Saudization and by creating new opportunities. The figure in the previous plan was 511,200 jobs.
Dr. Al-Ammar said information sought from companies includes the number of workers in each firm, their nationalities, their academic qualifications and the type of jobs they hold. The project does not cover house servants such as maids and drivers whose recruitment and employment arrangements are not handled by the ministry.
The ministry operates an employment system for Saudis as part of its database targeting the job market. It provides information on job seekers such as their academic qualifications, the type of training they received and the jobs they prefer. The system also lists the vacant jobs in private sector companies. The ministry through labor offices nominates applicants for these jobs. The information is only relayed to job seekers who register at labor offices.
