They said the new law would create tens of thousands of job opportunities for Saudi women.
Noted economist Abdullah Baashan said the new regulation would help contain unemployment among Saudi female graduates.
“Young Saudi women make up the major section of the unemployed in the Kingdom. Moreover, a large number of women graduate from various universities and technical institutes every year,” he said, while pointing out that the young generation makes up around 60-70 percent of Saudi population.
Baashan said the new law would have a positive social and economic impact. He thinks this will open new possibilities for low-income families to improve their financial condition with a fixed income. “Eventually, this would strengthen the local economy on two levels. Firstly, more money is pumped into the domestic economy, either by local consumption or through investment. Secondly, the percentage of money being transferred to foreign countries would decrease,” he said.
Baashan noted there are about seven million foreigners in the Kingdom. They transfer more than SR180 billion annually. “Replacing foreign salesmen with Saudi women would bring down the overall percentage of foreigners’ remittance by 10-15 percent. There is a possibility for a fall of 25 percent in the remittance in the short and medium term,” he said.
Commenting on the issue, prominent financial and economic analyst Muhammad Al-Anqari described the new regulation as an absolutely positive act that would fetch benefits now and in the future. “It will create tens of thousands of job opportunities for young women and open up new horizons of jobs for them. This will also enable jobless women to enter the job market and spend their revenues to boost the domestic economy,” he said, adding that this would also strengthen their expertise to launch commercial ventures and put an end to the cover-up business field dominated by foreigners.
Al-Anqari noted that employing Saudi saleswomen at lingerie shops would also produce a negative impact on the flight of Saudi capital through remittance by foreigners. “We can save at least SR20 million per month if we replace 20,000 foreign salesmen with Saudi saleswomen,” he added.
