Nearly 12,000 expats working in the Saudi Arabian public sector lost their contracts or had job application turned down last year as the government battles to provide more jobs for nationals.
In a stunning announcement for expats, Abdul Rahman Al-Barrak, Minister of Civil Services has stated all expat posts would be frozen until a qualified Saudi could take their place.
In the move, the government declined to renew contracts for more than 9,250 expats.
Another 2,600 had the applications for public sector jobs rejected.
The minister confirmed no expats would be considered for a job with the government until the post had been advertised locally and no suitably qualified Saudi could be found to fill the vacancy.
Expat jobs phased out
“The government focus is on replacing expat contract workers with Saudis,” he said.
“We’re coordinating with all academic institutions to see to it that all graduates meet the needs of the current labour market and that all institutions offer specialisations held by expatriates.”
The country’s health care sector has the greatest shortfall of qualified Saudis to fill vacancies.
The government is advertising 3,500 jobs in India, Pakistan and Egypt for suitably qualified professionals, from doctors to specialist nurses.
The minister also explained that all Saudi public sector departments and agencies were reviewing the skill sets required from employees. The aim is to identify the jobs held by expats so Saudis can be trained to take the majority of the jobs over the next five years.
The Saudi government has issued a series of decrees aimed at reducing the country’s reliance on expat workers.
Saudi Arabia has a population approaching 30 million, but around 9 million are expat workers. Many work in the private sector or in lowly paid jobs.
Nitaqat restrictions
Nitaqat, strict expat employment rules, have seen the number of jobs for Saudis increase, but in some sectors, Saudi women is particular seem unwilling to work.
The law penalises firms for exceeding expat employment quotas.
Many object to working in women’s fashion stores because they are embarrassed to handle lingerie.
The government is tackling expat employment sector-by-sector.
At the end of 2013, partners of expat workers were forbidden from working in private schools if they did not hold appropriate qualifications.
After a few weeks, the government weakened the requirement as schools were struggling to find staff.
Now expats can work in private schools if they pass a qualification test.
