JEDDAH — No Saudi national is employed in 342,000 small firms run by expatriates, Labor Minister Adel Fakieh has said. Unemployment among Saudi women, he said, rose to 35 percent while the percentage among men dropped to 6.1. “A total of 588,000 Saudi men and women have been employed over the last 18 months, thanks to Nitaqat Saudization Program. This figure makes up 83 percent of Saudis employed during the past 30 years,” he said. The minister made these remarks during Tuesday's meeting here with Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, Emir of Makkah region, and prominent businessmen. Fakieh reiterated that the decision to impose an annual expatriate levy of SR2,400 would stay. He also explained the reason for imposing the levy on each foreigner working at firms where the number of foreigners is higher than Saudis. “The decision would be instrumental in transforming low-salary jobs to posts with a higher salary attractive to Saudi jobseekers. We also prefer one highly skilled foreigner to 10 unskilled foreigners with low salaries,” he said. According to the minister, the number of Hafiz beneficiaries reached 16,58,000, of which women make up 85 percent. As many as 117,000 of these beneficiaries are employed in various sectors. Several businessmen who attended the meeting expressed their readiness to extend full cooperation to the ministry in finding suitable placements for Saudi jobseekers. The minister also unveiled plans to launch a massive media awareness campaign in the near future to encourage private firms to create jobs for Saudis.
