Saudi labor ministry represents workers by preserving their rights, says minister

Acting Information Minister Majid Al-Qasabi and Human Resources Minister Ahmed Al-Rajhi presented the latest government developments from different sectors to the media.

Al-Rajhi gave updates on the labor market and human resources.  

He said that a national labor market strategy was launched two years ago, which included 25 reform initiatives and sought to increase the economic participation of Saudis. The baseline was a 40 percent participation rate and the 2030 goal was to reach 60 percent, but the participation rate had already reached 50 percent and this achievement was an indication of the government being on the right path.

When asked by Arab News how the Ministry of Labor sought to guarantee the rights of workers and guarantee job security, Al-Rajhi replied: “In the labor market strategy, we have put before our eyes the three relations, which are the worker, the employer and the government. We in the ministry consider ourselves as representing the worker by preserving his rights.

“That is why the wage protection program was launched, a program that guarantees the worker taking his wages on time, as well as the contract documentation program. We have developed standard contracts that are binding on both parties and protect their rights and transparent contracts in the ministry’s platforms in case of dispute, and thus we can preserve the rights of both sides.

“In the event of a dispute, everyone knows what he owes and what he has, and we found a great response in friendly settlements, and I attribute our success in that to the fact that our contracts became transparent and not complicated, and we reached 65 percent of the cases in 2021 that ended by mutual consent before going to the courts, and our ambition is that there will be no dispute.”

He confirmed that a change in working days was currently being studied as part of a new system that aimed to make the Kingdom attractive to investors and to make the labor market more appealing to them.

Al-Qasabi had opened the press conference by saying that the country was continuing to reap the rewards of Vision 2030, mentioning four projects in the judicial legislation system that were being developed, and that the Kingdom’s industrial sector was a source of pride.

He said there were 10,293 factories and that the value of their exports exceeded SR208 billion (around $554 million) last year, reaching 188 countries.

Al-Qasabi said the mining and tourism sectors would create new job opportunities as the number of commercial establishments had recorded a 1,300 percent increase in six years.

The sports sector was also witnessing development, he told the press conference.