The Ministry of Labor (MoL)has conducted 30,000 raids so far in its crackdown on illegal workers in the Kingdom.

Deputy Labor Minister Mufrej Al-Haqbani said here recently that the teams of inspectors involved in the operations included officials from the Ministry of Interior.

He said officials from the two ministries hold regular meetings on operational matters.

Meanwhile, the Labor Ministry was working hard to provide jobs to Saudi women as ordered by the Council of Ministers, he said.

"It is a known fact that there is high unemployment among women, that's why we have to create more jobs for them." He said women play an important role in the economy.

According to the ministry's latest statistics, unemployment among Saudi women grew by 2.3 percent to 6.1 percent in 2012.

The number of Saudi women working in the private sector increased from 48,406 workers in 2009, to 100,000 in 2011, and 200,000 in December 2012.

Al-Haqbani said the ministry was working to ensure that all firms implement the wage protection system in their payrolls. The system would soon include domestic workers, he said. The system is meant to ensure there is a record of payments to resolve disputes between workers and their employers. It would also allow the ministry to create an accurate database of the current work force in the country.

The ministry recently introduced the third phase of the wage protection system to cover firms with over 1,000 workers, Arab News reported last week.

The first phase began on Sept. 1 last year for companies with over 3,000 workers and private schools. The second phase came into effect on Dec. 1 for companies with over 2,000 workers.

The fourth phase begins in July for firms with over 500 workers, the fifth phase in October for firms with over 200 employees and January 2015 for firms with over 100 employees.

The ministry confirmed that a payment delay of two months would see firms lose all their services, except those related to the issue and renewal of work permits. A three-month delay would result in the ministry cutting all services to the errant firm, including forcing its workers to move to other companies.