RIYADH, 18 December 2002 — Seventy authorized recruitment agencies in the Kingdom have run out of business though they still stay open , according to Ahmad ibn Abdul-rahman Al-Mansour, undersecretary at the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs.
These agencies were authorized by the the ministry to find placements for Saudis for the next 10 years, he told Al-Watan newspaper.
Labor Ministry officials have scheduled a meeting next Monday with recruitment offices and other employment agencies to discuss the problems they face to find jobs for Saudis in the private sector, Al-Watan reported.
Local recruitment offices, only 50 percent of which in Riyadh are licensed to operate, reportedly face many difficulties. One of them is the influx of foreign workers into the market. They also have to compete with 37 government offices spread across the country that place Saudi job-seekers free of charge. Local recruitment offices charge SR50 as application fee and an additional SR250 once the applicant is employed.
