RIYADH, 25 May 2004 — Small businesses will be given a three-month grace period to sort out their problems before a ban on overseas labor recruitment comes into force, Minister of Labor Dr. Ghazi Al-Gosaibi said on Sunday.
Al-Gosaibi said the aim of the ban on recruitment of foreign workers for companies with fewer than 10 employees was not to penalize small businesses but to curb visa fraud.
“It is not my intention to penalize anyone. We are therefore giving a three-month grace period within which (businesses) can approach manpower agencies.
“The ban on manpower recruitment has become necessary since they were trading in visas,” he said after opening the Human Resources Development Forum here.
The minister stressed that Saudization was a strategic option, since the presence of expatriates — some 8.8 million at the latest count — had assumed “alarming proportions.”
Al-Gosaibi said the government decided to reduce dependence on expatriate labor by 50 percent by 2012. The ceiling for foreign workers should be 20 percent of the population after that.
Besides capping recruitment the government is also focusing on training for Saudis. Al-Gosaibi said 30 companies participating in the forum had signed contracts with the Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF) to train 3,000 Saudis and eventually absorb them into their work force.
But the minister said the government would be flexible in its approach to Saudization. “There are some sectors where it is possible to Saudize the jobs 100 percent. But in other areas, like hospitals, we have to go slow,” he said.
Saudis, however, must help by shedding their prejudices and take the jobs that come along, including menial jobs, he said.
“The oil boom era is over and Saudis should be prepared to acquire technical and other skills in order to compete in the employment market,” he said.
Earlier, the minister distributed awards to companies that excelled in the Saudization of their work force, including the Saudi Research & Marketing Group, which owns Arab News. Abdullah Al-Qahtani accepted the medal on behalf of the group.
