RIYADH, 6 January 2005 — Minister of Labor Dr. Ghazi Al-Gosaibi has said that his ministry is exploring the possibility of reserving ten more categories of jobs for Saudis as part of the Kingdom’s Saudization drive.
Speaking at a symposium on the unemployment situation jointly organized by Al-Eqtisadiah daily and the Saudi Economic Association, he said the ministry has embarked on the study to find out if the ten categories of jobs, including plumbers, tailors, barbers and electricians, could be placed off-limits for expatriates.
These would be in addition to 22 other job categories for which visas have been stopped. The government, he pointed out, is committed to Saudizing 230 job categories under a phased plan to curtail recruitment of foreign labor who constitute around one-third of the Kingdom’s population.
According to official statistics, 80 percent jobs of translators and accountants have been Saudized, with expats filling up the remaining jobs.
He said one of the major factors responsible for the continued hiring of expats was the fact that they were approximately three times cheaper than Saudi manpower. Elaborating, the minister pointed out that whereas the average salary of a Saudi works out to SR3,495, that of an expat stands at SR1,133.
“This encourages Saudi employers to go for expatriates at the cost of Saudis,” he observed.
Dr. Al-Gosaibi proposed that the recruitment fee should be enhanced to discourage Saudis from bringing in foreign manpower. He anticipated that there will be sweeping changes on the manpower front over the next five years, as the government was working out modalities for inducting qualified and trained Saudis into the employment market while phasing out expatriates.
He also favored salary tax for expatriates on the same scale prevailing in the West. Such a measure, the minister said, could discourage them from entering the Saudi market.
At the same time, there should be no minimum wage for Saudis to encourage their hiring by employers, the minister said in remarks published previously.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior official at the Ministry of Labor told Arab News that the move to Saudize more professions is still under study. He said a final decision will be taken only after the study is completed, probably after three months.
The official clarified that the decision, in principle, to reserve those jobs for Saudis does not mean that expatriates currently working as barbers, tailors, plumbers and in other categories would automatically come under the purview of the new regulation. “They will be allowed to continue their business. But we will not issue any new visa for those job categories in future.”
He pointed out that the bottom line is to maintain a balance between manpower supply and demand. “Decisions will be taken on the basis of our national interest. The ban on issuance of visas for those jobs, when it goes into effect, would be tentative depending on its impact on the national economy. But we want to ensure that the ban is imposed in stages rather than on a wholesale basis.”
