Nearly 30 percent of abaya, night-wear and wedding dress stores may close or be sold at prices ranging between SR 500,000 and SR 1 million because of difficulties over employing women staff, local media reported, quoting sources in Jeddah.

A number of traders plan to sell more than 570 stores operating in the market due to problems related to the application of the feminization decision, said head of the garments and ready-made clothes committee at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) Mohammed Al-Shihri.

Al-Shihri said traders are complaining that the law was implemented too quickly, and about a lack of support and numerous delays in the payment of salary subsidies promised by the Ministry of Labor and the Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF), he added.

The companies are unable to pay salaries because most of them are small and medium enterprises, he said. He said owners have welcomed the new law, but need the promised financial support. There have been delays of up to six months in some cases, he added.

The JCCI's human resources committee will submit a package of proposals to the Ministry of Labor on how to remove barriers impeding the feminization plan in these areas, he said.

The proposals include the creation of a binding employment contract where employees will work for a period of not less than one year at fixed working hours until 9 p.m., but extended to 11 p.m. during holidays. The proposals also include finding a suitable transport system, prompt delivery of financial support for employees, and a clear mechanism outlining the HRDF’s support to the sector.

The committee has also called for tighter controls on shops and stalls during evening hours that are reportedly breaking the law by selling women's underwear at the expense of licensed Saudi dealers, he said.

Labor Undersecretary for Development and Head of Women Work Localization Program Dr. Fahad Al-Tikhaifi said support for a Saudi female employee starts from the first month she works, and once the ministry receives notification of her salary requirements.

He said the delays have been caused by businesses failing to provide the ministry with women employees' salary requirements, and not completing other legal formalities.

The HRDF pays 50 percent of an employee's salary, but not exceeding SR 2,000 per month, on condition the subsidized salary should not be less than SR 3,000 a month, he said.