JEDDAH, 9 August 2005 — The Ministry of Labor announced that the number of jobs available for Saudis in the private sector has reached 82,312 but only 15,771 Saudis have so far registered in jobs and 38,213 Saudis applied, which means that more than 40 percent of the available jobs have not been applied for. The report issued by the ministry’s information center stated that the number of Saudis and expatriates working in the private sector is 6,359,802 only 775,038 are Saudis (12 percent). The business establishments with 20 and more employees account for 4,405,107 employees, 707,272 are Saudis (16.06 percent). In establishments with less than 20 employees, the percentage of Saudis is 3.47 of the total. Since the start of the year, the number of visas approved reached 169,892 and the number of one-year licenses issued automatically is 813,570 and two-year licenses is 355,564.
