JEDDAH, 9 August 2005 — As many as 82,312 jobs in the private sector are available for Saudi applicants, Labor Minister Dr. Ghazi Al-Gosaibi announced yesterday.
He said his ministry had provided jobs to 40,000 Saudis during the last five months after a nationwide campaign to register jobseekers. He called upon unemployed Saudis to approach labor offices across the country and complete the formalities for placement in suitable jobs.
The Labor Office in Riyadh has found jobs for 7,704 Saudis while the Jeddah office has found jobs for 6,871 and the Taif office 4,976. In an earlier statement, Gosaibi warned unemployed Saudis that his ministry would consider only serious job seekers. “Any Saudi who demands a salary not in line with his qualification and training or refuses to join training courses or shifts from one place to another or rejects any job other than government jobs will be considered as not serious,” he explained.
“The ministry will not be responsible for the employment of those who are not serious as it cannot force them to work,” he added.
A total of 180,443 Saudis registered for jobs at 46 centers during the employment campaign. Of that number, 24,864 were removed from the list as they were either employed or running their own businesses.
Saudis between the ages of 16 and 25 accounted for 68 percent of the total registered job seekers; of that number, 88 percent were unmarried and 57 percent had less than a secondary education. Fourteen percent of the job seekers held bachelor or higher degrees. Gosaibi renewed his warning that the ministry would punish companies negligent in implementing Saudization regulations. At least 30 percent of employees in companies with 20 or more workers must be Saudi by the middle of next year.
He said the ministry would continue to control recruitment abroad in order to limit dependence on foreign workers. Last year, recruitment visas for private companies were cut by 17.8 percent to 684,201 from 832,244 the year before.
A committee has been set up at the Labor Ministry to approve applications for the recruitment of foreign manpower and investigate complaints by companies whose recruitment applications have been rejected.
The panel will streamline recruitment of experienced and skilled foreign manpower which is required. Some foreign investors have complained that they have been unable to begin their projects because of a lack of qualified personnel.
In a related development, the Labor Ministry in coordination with the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry has produced a plan for the gradual Saudization of operation, maintenance and cleaning jobs in some 500 private firms which will create jobs for 150,000 Saudis.
The Cabinet has instructed the companies specializing in operation, maintenance and cleaning to allocate five percent of their jobs to Saudis in the first year in order to attain 50 percent Saudization within five years.
In accordance with the plan, the government will instruct companies receiving public contracts to employ qualified Saudis. The companies will only get visas for foreigners in the absence of Saudi workers.
