Business expert: Saudization more important than jobs

The labor market across the country is facing radical changes with the efforts of Labor Ministry to rectify its course following years of debates and discussion between the ministry and business people.
To shed some light on the issue, Abdul-Aziz Al-Jalan, a businessman and member of Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and vice chairman of the Board of Trustees of Riyadh Economic Forum, said in an interview with a local newspaper that the Labor Ministry should be praised for its efforts, although some of its approaches are damaging to some goals Saudi authorities aspire to achieve.
“When the solution is prolonged, this means there is a flaw somewhere, which is exactly the case now concerning unemployment and Saudization,” Al-Jalan said.
Lack of strategies that are directly, or indirectly linked with unemployment is one problem, he added.
“Unemployment rates in developed countries are true when other figures of the economy are so, such as the services presented to citizens, fines and fees of the various violations and licenses, ratios of income distribution and other elements related all these are factors contribute to unemployment rates,” he said.
Al-Jalan noted that the lack of other strategies are hampering Saudi Arabia’s advancement in all aspects.
“We face obstacles such as delayed projects, congestions in most main cities of the Kingdom, piling of goods at ports and many others.”
Pointing to the fact that the ministry should not only focus on the Saudization of jobs, he said: “There is a much more important issue than that, it is the Saudization of trade sector. This is a vital sector worldwide not just in the Kingdom, and requires the cooperation of government and the private sector to create job opportunities for citizens.”
Government officials and workers, he said, should have the conviction that the solution is an integrated, comprehensive process with cooperation and coordination among all parties.
“A fundamental correlation exists between caps on foreign labor and the pace we want our country to advance with,” he said.
“It is the competitive environment that stands in the way of any Saudi wishing to invest in his country, where most fields are monopolized by foreigners,” he said.
Saudization should be applied sector by sector.
“We should start with the most profitable sector then move on to other sectors.”
The other part of the solution lies in departing from the sudden and random change in the decision-making process.
The problem of loose labor should be handled in the first place.
“We should address matters with a tight grip, pursuing those without residency card and checking the party that gave hundreds of thousands of people a visa entry without any rational.”