Hiring of 1 m expats yearly hampers Saudization drive

Saudi Arabia recruits about one million foreign workers every year, said Ahmed Al-Humaidan, deputy minister of labor, yesterday, indicating the move would affect employment of Saudis in the private sector.
“We were able to find jobs for only 615,000 Saudis during the past 18 months,” he told reporters. “We have an unemployment rate of six percent among men and 35 percent among women,” he pointed out.
Meanwhile, Mufrej Al-Haqabani, deputy labor minister, commended Cabinet decisions about tough punitive measures against iqama and labor law violators.
Violators of Article 33 of the Labor Law will be fined not less than SR 5,000 and not more than SR 20,000, he said. The fine will be multiplied in accordance with the number of people involved in a violation. The foreigner will be deported at the expense of those who employed him.
Al-Humaidan said the ministry provides 90 percent of its services electronically. “We have renewed five million work permits this way,” he said while disclosing plans to introduce an insurance scheme for unemployed Saudis.
Al-Humaidan said about 180,000 Saudis benefited from the Nitaqat program to increase salaries to not less than SR 3,000. “Next month we’ll have a dialogue forum to discuss various issues including Nitaqat, cover-up businesses and foreign transfers of expats,” he said.
Ibrahim Al-Muaiqel, director general of Human Resource Development Fund, said there are 10 expats against two Saudis in the private sector. “About 300,000 Saudis enter the job market every year. We have CVs of nearly two million Saudi job seekers,” he added.
The Labor Ministry has agreed to a proposal by the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry to set up a joint committee to discuss labor market issues and review the ministry’s decisions. Abdul Rahman Al-Zamil, president of RCCI, said the move would prevent clash of interests of the two sides.