JEDDAH, 7 June 2004 — Labor Minister Dr. Ghazi Al-Gosaibi has specified the dates for the three-month grace period in which small businesses can still recruit foreign manpower.
Al-Gosaibi said labor offices had been instructed to accept applications from small firms with less than 10 employees for the recruitment of foreign workers from May 24 until Aug. 21.
The grace period was granted “to meet the manpower requirements of small firms and in response to the demands of the small business owners,” the minister said.
Last month, the minister decided to ban small companies from recruiting foreign staff in a bid to create jobs for Saudis and reduce the Kingdom’s unemployment rate.
“The ban on recruitment was imposed to create more job opportunities for skilled Saudi workers who cannot find jobs because of competition from expatriates,” he said.
Al-Gosaibi explained that the aim of the ban 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 during which (businesses) can approach manpower agencies,” he said.
The government has targeted small and medium enterprises because they were the ones recruiting most heavily abroad. Companies such as Aramco, SABIC and Saudi Telecom have already achieved 80-90 percent Saudization, he added.
Al-Gosaibi said the total ban on recruitment by small businesses would be in place after Aug. 21 when the grace period ends. “The ban will be implemented on the basis of a sound system,” he said.
He said the ministry would make use of an updated database to have a clear idea of the manpower situation and the needs of private companies. “Our aim is to limit recruitment and create jobs for the largest number of Saudis,” Al-Jazirah quoted the minister as saying.
The minister stressed that Saudization was a strategic option since the number of expatriates, estimated at 8.8 million, had assumed “alarming proportions.” He also disclosed the government’s plan to reduce dependence on expatriate labor by 50 percent by 2012 when the number of foreign workers should have been brought down to 20 percent of the population.
