Saudi Gazette report

MAKKAH — New job openings for expatriates have dropped by about 161,500 during the second quarter of 2017, Makkah daily said on Tuesday quoting a report by Jadwa Investment Company (JIC).

The report said the employment of non-Saudi women has shown a downward trend since the beginning of the year as many expatriates opted to send their families back home following imposition of fees on their dependents.

The report said said the employment of Saudis has gone up by 28,900 new jobs consisting of 60 percent men and 40 percent women.

The report, covering the conditions of the labor market during the second quarter of the year, expected a re-structural change in the employment of non-Saudis in view of the fees imposed on them since the first of July.

It said the rate of unemployment among Saudi youths decreased by about 15.9 percent taking a positive turn.

The report noted that many young Saudis usually enter the labor market during the second quarter of the year after graduation from universities.

It said as many as 92,3000 young Saudi men and women entered the labor market during the first six months of the year compared to 52,000 during the same period last year.

The report, however, said the number of Saudi women entering the labor market dropped by 33,700 representing about five percent.

It expected the decision to allow women to drive from June to boost the employment of Saudi women in the labor market and to facilitate the creation of a large number of new jobs.

The report said the rate of Saudization of jobs increased from 42.5 percent in the second quarter of 2016 to 43.1 percent in 2017.

It attributed the rise in the nationalization of jobs to the fact that a large number of expatriates have opted to leave for their homes following the imposition of dependents fees.

Meanwhile, Minister of Labor and Social Development, Ali Al-Ghifais, said the ministry was determined to Saudize all jobs in economic, commercial, industrial and service sectors. «The nationalization of jobs is increasing week after week,» he said in Tabuk after meeting with its Emir Prince Fahd Bin Sultan on Monday.

The minister said all job opportunities currently available in all sales points will be filled with young Saudi men and women.

«We have already started the third phase of the nationalization of jobs in malls and commercial centers whether closed or open,» he said.

Ghifais said about 80 percent of the jobs in the malls and commercial centers have so far been Saudized.

He said the ministry is intent on enabling young Saudi men and women to take every available job in the retail, industrial, economic, commercial and service sectors.