A woman shops for gold jewelry in this file photo. — Archives Okaz/Saudi Gazette DAMMAM – Owners of gold jewelry factories and workshops in the Eastern Province fear that the Nitaqat system, which monitors percentages of foreign workers and penalizes employers that do not meet the requirement of Saudization, will cause grave harm to their businesses. If there are no changes to the system launched by the Ministry of Labor, it will create a real crisis that can close down 80 percent of gold factories and workshops, they said. Muhammad Al-Muhammad, Chairman of the Gold Committee in the Eastern Province Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the gold sector is required to have 21 percent Saudization, but it is difficult to find Saudi workers. There is a scarcity of professional workers in the gold industry, which requires a high level of skill and great capability to deal with the precious metal, he said. The Gold Committee has received many complaints from people who have said the Nitaqat system is affecting their gold factories and workshops, he added. The Gold Committee will hold a workshop early next month, after Eid Al-Fitr, with owners of gold factories and workshops to study the situation and take the appropriate stance to find solutions with the Ministry of Labor. Abdul Razzaq Al-Nasser, owner of a gold workshop, said factories for large quantities of gold ornaments have more than 50 workers, the majority of whom are Indians with salaries between SR1,200 and SR1,500. It is hard to find Saudi workers who are willing to accept those salaries or salaries reaching SR3,000, he added. Working as a goldsmith requires meticulous training and the ability to shape the gold with great care – skills that cannot be found among Saudi workers, Al-Nasser said. The Eastern Province is considered among the few regions with a high percentage of Saudization among salesmen in gold shops, he pointed out. Small workshops, which have only about six workers, work on repairs and limited amount of manufacturing, Al-Nasser said. Some gold shops have established these operations to repair defects or adjust sizes, according to customers' requests, he added. __
