DAMMAM — The private sector offers 35,250 remote job opportunities annually, local daily Al-Watan reported quoting the Ministry of Labor and Social Development. The ministry said the private sector would turn 374,769 available openings, representing 3.5 percent of the total opportunities, into jobs that can be performed from a distance. Saudis will hold about 21.5 percent of such jobs, it said. The private sector will offer some 141,000 remote jobs by 2020, the ministry said, adding that this will raise the percentage of the Saudi working women to 28 percent. In order to meet official approval, the remote work should be carried out using the Internet and other modern technology means. The ministry said it is left to the employer to fix the daily working hours and the payment within the framework of the Saudi labor law. While asking the workers to preserve the properties of the establishment employing them, the ministry insisted that the employers should provide remote employees with all materials needed for performing the job. It said a part-time distance worker would be considered half a Saudi employee for the Nitaqat purposes but special needs people will each be considered equal to one Saudi employee, irrespective of whether they worked part-time or full-time. Awatif Al-Amir, a Saudi businesswoman, said many of the employers will make their available jobs into remote ones especially for women who require special working environment that may cost them a lot of money. "The employers will save a lot of money which they may have to spend on preparing special working environment for women, in addition to their transport," she said. She said jobs that can be performed remotely are mainly in the fields of translation, marketing, accountancy, designing, graphics and research. According to the ministry, the private sector employs a total of 10,617,190 workers, including 1,739,074 Saudis.
