RIYADH, 5 June 2007 — The urgent need to specify job vacancies, areas where Saudization cannot be applied, as well as the role played by government institutions to train Saudis in the country or abroad in the industrial sector were highlighted in a recent study done for the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI).
The study, conducted by Dar Al-Khibra for Economic Consultations, established that there was as little as 12 percent of Saudis working in all the industrial fields in the Kingdom, while noting at the same time the increase of foreigners, estimated at 88 percent of the total national workforce in the same sector.
According to a statement from RCCI provided to Arab News, the study mentioned that it would be difficult for the required Saudization quota to be implemented in the industrial sector in the Kingdom.
It urged gradual implementation over a 10-15 year span.
The study mentioned that 81.1 percent of Saudi working in the industrial field were in office jobs, while as little as 13.6 percent of the entire Saudization rate worked in technical fields. Foreigners working in the industrial field in the Kingdom were found in the in the areas of metal products, cement products, glass products, foodstuff products, clothes products, and plastic and petrochemical products. Those products represent 82 percent of the country’s industrial work.
The majority of people surveyed in the study noted that the industrial sector in the Kingdom in its current stage still required the skills of foreign workers, at least in the near future.
Respondents surveyed in the study complained about the two shifts required for the job. They said the low salaries and lack of incentives did not compensate for the long working hours and the hardships at work. They also stated that factory owners preferred foreigners to Saudis because the former required less payment. Respondents also agreed that the minimum wage for a Saudi employee should be increased. In addition, they recommended that Saudi youth be enlightened about the importance of labor and technical jobs, a matter that many of them said is still being looked down upon from society.
To attract more Saudis in the industrial sector, the study urged businessmen who own factories to make regular announcements of job vacancies on a permanent or part time basis. It also urged that salaries be increased and that a Saudi trainee’s training fee also be increased. It also recommended that Saudi trainees be obligated to sign contracts with the companies they were trained and should be hired immediately upon completion of the training program. According to statistics from the Labor Ministry, 11 percent of the jobseekers announced during the national campaign for employment last year in the Kingdom were seeking jobs in the industrial sector.
The absence of Saudi women in the industrial sector in the Kingdom was also brought up in the study. The study said it was important to provide more jobs for women based on national strategies to integrate women in the workforce according to Islamic laws and local traditions. It also recommended more jobs for women by establishing female industrial zones that offer job opportunities in ready-made clothes factories.
The study also urged that labor offices in the Kingdom provide information for job seekers on their websites. It urged that the list of job vacancies be updated on their websites every three months.
The study was conducted in several regions of the Kingdom. Information was gathered from 400 people working in the industry field, 200 jobseekers, as well as interviews with heads of education and training institutes and officials from several chambers of commerce.
