Saudi Arabia’s Labor Minister Adel Al-Fakeih has introduced 38 amendments to the country’s labor legislation that includes more training for Saudi workers, longer fixed-term contracts, and greater inspection powers for ministry officials, according to reports. The announcement by Fakeih coincides with news that Saudi Arabia’s Shoura Council has urged a relaxation of visa restrictions on “proven businessmen,” a in a bid to attract more foreign investment, according to ArabianBusiness.com.
Fakeih told the Saudi English daily Arab News that companies with more than 50 Saudi workers now have to train 12 percent of their total work force, rather than the previous 6 percent. “Fixed-term work contracts have now been extended from three to four years. If a contract is renewed three times in succession, then it would become open-ended, Fakeih told Arab News.“
Labor Minister Adel Fakeih
Saudi Arabia has struggled to curb high unemployment rates for its citizens and has undertaken an ambitious program, called Nitaqat or “Phases” which is designed to open up more jobs for Saudis.
In February 2015, the Labor Ministry adjusted rules for business owners stating that the hiring of Saudis counts toward Nitaqat quotas immediately after the hiring of a Saudi citizen, improving on a standard delay of 13 weeks.
Saudi Arabia’s King Salman has an “urgency about fixing the system” of labor in the Kingdom, according to Gulf-based expert Theodore Karasik. The King gave a speech in March in which he “called for new programs to promote national unity and economic development. He indicated the need to provide more job opportunities in both the public and private sectors and for more medium and small enterprises,” Karasik wrote in The National.
