The government will not provide unemployment benefits for those who have chosen to be unemployed unless they are on the verge of starvation, said Ghazi Al-Gosaibi, Minister of Labor during a press conference after his meeting with the members of the National Human Rights Society (NHRS) in Riyadh on Sunday. “And it has not reached that stage yet as the decision to be unemployed is a mere personal one as long as there are work opportunities available across the nation,” he said. He encouraged unemployed citizens to seek jobs instead of waiting for benefits from the government for doing nothing, emphasizing it would only create a generation with no enthusiasm for work challenges to get ahead with their creative inputs and efforts at a time of economic boom when they are needed the most. Six members of the European Union have cut 50 percent of their unemployment benefits because they simply found that people were not willing to work despite available work opportunities, he said. He unveiled training programs at his ministry to qualify citizens for the market with monthly stipends of up to SR2000. The Ministry of Labor has started the feminization of jobs at women's shops where only women are allowed to work, a decision that was unfortunately misinterpreted, he said. He applauded that cooperation of women's shops to implement the decision by hiring more women, noting that women will work within specific regulations approved by Prince Naif Bin Abdul Aziz, Minister of Interior. The minister said there are no labor restrictions about employing Saudi women as housekeepers and babysitters. There is no authority that can prevent women from working as long as they have a binding agreement with their employers, but there seems to be many who believe they are the society's gatekeepers strongly opposing the employment of Saudi women, he said. He refuted all the circulating allegations that his ministry has set up programs to help unemployed Saudis to work as barbers or at car body shops. Commenting on a proposal to start housemaid companies to provide services on hourly basis, he said that there is a royal decree to this regard to establish these companies in the Kingdom. But recruiting offices, which are supposed to start these services, seem to be unready or even unenthusiastic to start. The regulations of establishing these housemaid companies will be submitted to the Council of Ministers for review, he said. Once approved, businesses can submit their applications for licensing, he added. When asked about the Shoura Council's proposal to merge the Ministry of Labor with the Civil Services, he said it is a complicated matter that needs to be thoroughly studied before taking a decision. The Ministry of Labor issued 1.7m work visas in 2007, prompting a question of the process of Saudization. To that regard Gosaibi said, “We shouldn't attack foreign countries by stopping recruiting their citizens, but we are protecting the Saudi workforce as they have to protect their people,” he said. “We are not ready to get into trouble with our friends,” he confirmed. The Ministry of Labor is a civic entity that respects the will of foreign countries to protect and ask for more benefits for their people in the Kingdom by, for example, asking to raise their minimum wage, he said. But their decisions sometimes are not worth the ink they were written with as the market is only bound by demand and supply, he added. - Okaz __
