Around half a million expatriates in Saudi Arabia are unemployed, a senior official told Gulf News.
The official from the Saudiisation Department, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said earlier the Saudi market is saturated with manpower and the number of unemployed workers is expected to increase.
He said: "The labour market can accommodate seven million workers, around 80 per cent of which is already filled with foreigners."
As a result, wages of the foreign manpower are very low which keep the Saudi nationals away from getting suitable jobs with reasonable wages.
According to a recent study by the labour office in Jeddah, money transferred by these expatriates is worth more than SR70 billion annually. Random recruitment has flooded the market with an illusive work force. Seventy per cent of all foreign workers are not skilled and their presence exceeds development needs.
The Ministry of Labour reports indicated that the number of expatriates in the Kingdom will decrease as more Saudis enter the work force.
The official also warned that unemployment among foreigners could cause social and security threats because of such low wages. He suggested: "The visa issuing procedures should be regulated. More private recruitment offices should be checked and those who violate rules should be punished."
In a step to control the situation, the Shura Council is expected soon to discuss possible ways to combat the problem of overstayers.
According to Jeddah's Passports Department, it receives 1,500 overstayers everyday.Recently released statistics by the department showed that during the last three months, authorities regularised the status of five million foreigners while 94,000 were deported.
Gulf News 2003
