JEDDAH, 26 March 2005 — There is no plan to stop recruitment of foreign manpower and get rid of expatriate workers in the Kingdom, Labor Minister Dr. Ghazi Al-Gosaibi said yesterday.
Gosaibi said his ministry had decided to reduce foreign recruitment in order to tackle the imbalance in the job market and create jobs for Saudis. He also emphasized his ministry’s plan to hold a separate employment campaign for women and said it required special facilities.
“We are keen on the employment of women and we will hold a campaign soon once preparations are complete,” Al-Madinah Arabic daily quoted the minister as saying.
Gosaibi commended foreign workers for their immense contributions to the Kingdom’s development. “Saudi Arabia values foreign work force and their great contributions to its development,” said Gosaibi.
He said the Kingdom’s labor law does not differentiate between Saudi and foreign workers in terms of rights.
“Saudization must be by choice and not by rule,” said Abdelmenem Jamil Addas, professor of finance at the College of Business Administration in Jeddah, while commenting on Gosaibi’s statement.
Saudi Arabia’s economy works best when it is based on market economy and any government intervention will tend to destabilize the market, he said.
“Ever since the government imposed the so-called Saudization rules on gold merchants, many businessmen have either transferred their businesses to Dubai or scaled down their operations,” Addas pointed out.
Given the trend in globalization and the eventual membership of Saudi Arabia in the World Trade Organization (WTO), the government and the private sector must work on the principles of free economy, he added.
Foreign investors have also welcomed Gosaibi’s statement on recruitment and said it would encourage them to open new businesses in the country.
“Expatriates are essential for technical jobs, because efficient and experienced technical workers are not available locally,” said M.V.A. Saleem, a foreign investor who holds an investment license. He said obstacles to recruitment were affecting investment projects. “When we approach the labor office for visas, they say recruitment has been stopped and ask us to hire staff locally.
“Even after advertising in local newspapers, we don’t get efficient technicians. This has affected businesses. So the minister’s statement is quite encouraging,” he said.
The Cabinet announced a series of measures last month to intensify the country’s Saudization drive and reduce dependence on foreign labor.
Gosaibi said measures taken by the ministry to rationalize foreign recruitment had succeeded in cutting down job visas from 832,244 to 684,201 in a year.
Gosaibi said his ministry was in the process of opening women’s sections at its branch offices throughout the country in order to register women jobseekers.
Saudi Arabia has one of the world’s highest women unemployment rates and the government has taken steps to enhance job opportunities for them.
