Al-Kharashi said that the Mawten manpower company had "complied with the new rules and conditions of the Ministry of Labor, which basically aim to regulate the labor market of the Kingdom to ensure recruitment of skilled and academically qualified foreign workers." "Several small and big manpower companies have merged their operations to form Mawten," said Abdulaziz Al-Homayed, owner and managing director of Shatha Alshark Recruitment Agency.
Al-Homayed, who has joined hands with many manpower agencies in forming Mawten, said that the new venture had signed an agreement with KSB Capital Group to provide financial consultancy. He pointed out that the capital of the new company will be SR190 million. To this end, he noted that the Ministry of Labor has fixed SR50 million as the lowest capital base for any new recruitment company, seeking license to operate in the Kingdom.
He pointed out that KSB Capital Group, being one of the largest asset management businesses in the region, will provide expertise to Mawten. Asked about the total number of companies, which have joined hands together to form Mawten, he said that most of the new recruitment companies, which are about to launch their operation, have succeeded in merging 14 to 25 manpower agencies into one entity. Al-Homayed also underlined the need for organizing the recruitment sector and for founding new companies specialized in recruitment.
He pointed out that a total of 1,000 visas will be given to every recruitment agency, which will merge with other recruitment offices to form a bigger company as per the new requirements of the Ministry of Labor. Asked as how the new regulations that call for establishment of 13 new manpower companies will eventually help to cut reliance on foreign workers, Al-Homayed said that the new legislations will "more streamline the sector than expelling the foreigners at one go."
In fact, the Saudi market is awaiting the launch of 13 new recruitment companies that will provide enough foreign manpower wherever required and hopefully put an end to the problem of runaway employees as well, he added. He pointed out that the Saudi market was facing acute shortage of domestic helpers at the moment. There is also a shortage of Saudi and non-Saudi skilled workers, said a report released on this occasion. Currently, expatriate workers hold 90 percent of jobs in Saudi Arabia's private sector.
The foreign workers accept salaries that are on average less than a third of what Saudis earn, which analysts said also drives down the average wages for Saudis, according to the report. Government data released recently for 2010 showed just how skewed Saudi's labor market remains. Despite youth unemployment figures, the Kingdom's private sector hired 1.7 million foreigners in 2010 - and just over 100,000 Saudis, said the report.
