RIYADH — The Ministry of Labor will soon launch a Saudization commission that will supervise and monitor all affairs related to the job nationalization drive, but the move has been criticized by Shoura Council members and economic experts, Al-Hayat daily reported. The commission's organizational structure is still being studied by pertinent authorities, said ministry spokesman Tayseer Al-Mufaraj. Abdulrahman Al-Hayjan, Shoura Council member, says forming a new commission does not necessarily mean the problems associated with providing jobs for Saudis would be solved. Another member, Muwafaq Al-Ruwaili, said he is against forming commissions for different tasks. “When a ministry fails in running its affairs, it demands a commission should be formed to solve this problem. Increasing productivity in the labor market and supervising the procedures of Saudization is the job of the ministry. If the commission is going to perform this task, what's left for the ministry to do then?,” he asked. Dr. Miqbil Al-Thakeer, economic professor at King Abdulaziz University, said if the government wishes to change the status quo in the market, it should search for indirect ways to reform the labor market first and encourage citizens to take on the jobs they want. It should not impose jobs on citizens, he said. He said: “We all want to increase the number of Saudi workers in the private sector and protect them against the internal wars expatriate workers wage against them inside the offices of some businesses and organizations. “The question is, will the commission achieve the Saudization goal or make things more complex and stall the national economy?” He believed the only way to solve the problem of unemployment and improve the labor market situation, problems that both have existed over the past 40 to 50 years, was to follow a well-organized strategy. “The government does not have a magic wand that can solve such problems in the blink of an eye.” Abdulhameed Al-Amri, member of the Saudi Economic Association, said forming a new commission means more government spending. With oil prices slumping, the government will experience a difficult financial situation in 2015-2016, Al-Amri said. He said: “Forming such a commission takes us back to square one. “We already have the ministry, the Human Resources Development Fund and the General Organization of Social Insurance.” Al-Amri also said the ministry, like the Human Resources Development Fund, has its own revenue streams in addition to the funds allocated by the government. The government allocates SR100 billion for the ministry that does not include the money taken from the private sector for Saudization purposes and to improve work environments. “If the ministry and the HRDF can't achieve the sought-after goals, what's the use of adding a new commission that could cost SR20 billion every year to do the same job of the ministry and the fund?” he said. The Kingdom's unemployment rate is the ninth highest in the world, said Al-Amri. It was discovered that 62 percent of the 370,000 jobs the ministry registered over the past four years were bogus positions created by companies to meet their Saudization targets, he claimed.
