The Ministry of Labor is considering paying financial incentives to companies that provide their Saudi employees with increased salaries and other benefits.

The draft proposal states that firms must meet three conditions, including covering Saudi and non-Saudi employees with social insurance for at least 12 months, and for the firms to be in the Green or Platinum zones of the Nitaqat Program.

The third condition is that companies must have raised the salaries of their Saudi workers for six months preceding the financial aid.

The ministry stated that it would pay the incentives in line with the increase in salaries, not exceeding 15 percent of a company’s payroll or SR10 million.

The ministry stated that it regards private sector companies as major partners in helping to overcome labor market challenges in the country. It said that the Human Resources Development Fund would continue to support and incentivize private sector efforts to hire and train Saudis.

The program is entitled “Financial subsidies for firms growing the wages of Saudi workers,” and applies to new and long-term Saudi workers.