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Al-Gosaibi said on Monday that his ministry had provided jobs to 40,000 Saudis during the last five months after a nationwide campaign to register jobseekers. He called upon unemployed Saudis to approach labour offices across the country and complete the formalities for placement in suitable jobs.
The Labour Office in Riyadh has found jobs for 7,704 Saudis while the Jeddah office has found jobs for 6,871 and the Taif office 4,976. In an earlier statement, Al-Gosaibi warned unemployed Saudis that his ministry would consider only serious job seekers. "Any Saudi who demands a salary not in line with his qualification and training or refuses to join training courses or shifts from one place to another or rejects any job other than government jobs will be considered as not serious," he explained.
"The ministry will not be responsible for the employment of those who are not serious as it cannot force them to work," he added.
A total of 180,443 Saudis registered for jobs at 46 centres during the employment campaign. Of that number, 24,864 were removed from the list as they were either employed or running their own businesses.
Saudis between the ages of 16 and 25 accounted for 68 per cent of the total registered job seekers; of that number, 88 per cent were unmarried and 57 per cent had less than a secondary education. Fourteen per cent of the job seekers held bachelor or higher degrees.
Al-Gosaibi renewed his warning that the ministry would punish companies negligent in implementing Saudisation regulations. At least 30 per cent of employees in companies with 20 or more workers must be Saudi by the middle of next year.
He said the ministry would continue to control recruitment abroad in order to limit dependence on foreign workers. Last year, recruitment visas for private companies were cut by 17.8 per cent from 832,244 the year before to 684,201.
A committee has been set up at the labour ministry to approve applications for the recruitment of foreign manpower and investigate complaints by companies whose recruitment applications have been rejected.
The panel would streamline recruitment of experienced and skilled foreign manpower that is required. Some foreign investors have complained that they have been unable to begin their projects because of a lack of qualified personnel.
In a related development, the labour ministry in coordination with the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry has come up with a plan for the gradual Saudisation of operation, maintenance and cleaning jobs in some 500 private firms, which would create jobs for 150,000 Saudis.
The Cabinet has instructed the companies specialising in operation, maintenance and cleaning to allocate five per cent of their jobs to Saudis in the first year in order to attain 50 per cent Saudisation within five years.
In accordance with the plan, the government would instruct companies receiving public contracts to employ qualified Saudis. The companies would get visas for foreigners only in the absence of Saudi workers.
The pandemic saw a significant rise in number of cases of anxiety
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