JEDDAH, 23 August 2004 -- Saudi Arabia yesterday issued new regulations restricting the number of expatriate workers an employer can recruit. The regulations come at a time when efforts are being made to create more jobs for unemployed Saudis and control the size of the expatriate work force.
According to a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency, the Labor Ministry has instructed labor and recruitment offices that "only one application from one business of an employer can be considered at a time." The ministry said applications would be studied, bearing in mind the necessity to avoid any "exaggeration" of the need for foreign workers. Employers cannot file another request for expatriate workers for another two months so that there will be time for newly arrived workers to be properly registered in the computer, it added.
According to Labor Minister Ghazi Al-Gosaibi, there are 8.8 million expatriates in the Kingdom, a figure equal to nearly 50 percent of the indigenous population. He said Riyadh was determined to cut this figure to 20 percent over the next eight years.
The ministry has already issued a ban on the recruitment of foreign workers by small businesses having fewer than 10 employees. The ban came into effect on Aug. 21 when the grace period given to small businesses ended.
The government has targeted small and medium enterprises because they were the ones who recruited most heavily abroad. Saudi Arabia reportedly issued 600,000 work visas last year and 120,000 during the first two months of 2004.
Since the mid-1990s, the Kingdom has implemented a series of measures to boost employment opportunities for its nationals, particularly in the private sector. More than 640,000 Saudis have so far been employed in the sector as a result of the Saudization drive.
The Cabinet has approved a nine-point plan to create more job and business opportunities for women. The plan included restricting jobs in shops dealing in women-only items such as underwear and cosmetics. At present only 5.5 percent of an estimated 4.7 million Saudi women of working age are employed. Gosaibi said his ministry would gradually stop the recruitment of foreign workers to fill jobs required by shops selling women's accessories, adding that labor cards would not be given to foreigners working in a sector restricted to Saudis.
Efforts are under way to establish women-only projects with the support of private and public agencies in order to employ some 70,000 qualified Saudi women. "The establishment of the new projects will help solve the growing unemployment problem among Saudi women," said Ahmed Al-Mansour, deputy minister for labor affairs.
P.K. Abdul Ghafour
© Arab News 2004
