Saudis quitting private sector jobs

More than 115,000 Saudis quit their jobs in the private sector to give way to expatriates despite a hectic government drive to lure them into that sector and tackle a festering unemployment problem, according to official figures.

At the end of 2009, the number of Saudis employed in the private sector stood at around 680,000, a decline of nearly 17.8 per cent over the previous year, showed the figures by the Ministry of Labour, published in Okaz newspaper.

Expatriate workers in the sector increased by nearly 15.2 per cent to 6.2 million at the end of 2009 to maintain their position as the dominant workforce in the Saudi private sector, the largest in the oil-rich Gulf.

“More than 115,000 Saudi nationals quit their jobs in the private sector last year, a decline of nearly 17.8 per cent over the previous year,” Okaz said.

It gave no reason for the decline but noted that average monthly wages in the private sector plunged by around 26 per cent to below SR1,000 last year compared with nearly SR1,353 in 2008.
“Wages for males declined by 27 per cent to below SR1,000 but those for females dropped by nearly 11 per cent to SR1,675,” it said.

Like in other Gulf oil producers, Saudis prefer jobs in the public sector for more attractive financial benefits and less work hours.

But the Gulf Kingdom, the world’s oil basin, is banking on the private sector to tackle its deteriorating unemployment problem on the grounds the government sector has become redundant because of lower growth rates and a steady growth in the country’s population, standing at over two per cent annually.

Saudi officials said in June there are plans to create nearly 160,000 jobs for its citizens in the private sector within a long-term strategy intended to tackle the unemployment problem and replace foreigners with nationals.

They said the strategy includes a two-year plan, a medium-term scheme for three years and a long-term plan stretching for 20 years.

The target of the first plan, staring in 2011, is to bring unemployment under control while the second phase is to reduce the joblessness rate, they said.

“The third long-term stage is designed to upgrade the competitiveness of the Saudi economy relying totally on the national human resources,” said Fahd bin Saleh Al Khuraisi, public relations director at the Saudi Ministry of Labour.

“Our first target is to get nearly 160,000 jobs for Saudis in the private sector…we are currently conducting studies to improve wages for Saudis in the private sector to encourage them to take up jobs in this sector.”

Khuraisi said the Labour Ministry is working on the strategy with the help of other government departments, including the Ministries of Education, Finance, Industry and Trade, Economy and Planning, and Social Affairs as well as chambers of commerce and industry, investment funds and other parties.

Sitting atop more than a fifth of the world’s recoverable oil deposits, Saudi Arabia is suffering more from unemployment than its Gulf neighbours given its large population and the slowdown in its economy in some years.

Citing figures by the Ministry of Labour, a key Saudi bank said last month the Kingdom’s unemployment rate edged up to around 10.5 per cent in 2009 from 10 per cent in 2008 because of what it described as tightened market conditions and the fact that companies prefer to hire foreigners for lower salaries.

“Private sector companies in the Kingdom favour non-Saudi employees, who comprised about 90 per cent of the workforce in 2008, up from 87 per cent in 2006-2008,” Banque Saudi Fransi said in a study.

“Saudi Arabia’s unemployment rate reached 10.5 per cent in 2009, up from 10 per cent a year earlier, as market conditions tightened…. data from the Ministry of Labour indicate the number of foreigners hired by the private sector is nine times higher than that of Saudis.”

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.