Minister of Labour Dr Ghazi Al-Gosaibi said he is determined to end unemployment and decrease the dependence on foreign workers in the Kingdom.
An arrangement exempting small businesses from abiding by Saudization laws may come under review as the Ministry of Labour seeks to boost the pace of Saudization. In an interview published yesterday by Al-Watan newspaper, Dr Al-Gosaibi said: “Following my appointment as Minister of Labour, I announced that the Ministry would adopt a thirteen-point program to combat the problem of unemployment. Among the thirteen points was curbing the need for foreign workers in the Kingdom and raising the standards of Saudi labour.”
The Minister said that it would be unrealistic to expect the problem of Saudi unemployment to be resolved in the short-term. He said that three years would not suffice for resolving the problem, but he hoped that it would take no longer than nine.
Dr Al-Gosaibi said that he was considering implementing the requirement that small firms hire more Saudi citizens under the Saudization program, noting that now is the time to review the exemption of small businesses from Saudization regulations. “Small institutions with fewer than twenty employees have been completely exempt from Saudization, despite the fact that they employ large numbers of foreign workers. It is now an appropriate time to review that decision,” the Minister said. Until now, the Saudization program has focused on large companies because they have greater capabilities for training and broadening employment opportunities.
Source: SPA
