It is a fact – sad though it may be – that private sector employers are not terribly keen on hiring Saudi workers. Part of the dislike is a difference they see in work ethic. Another part is that foreign laborers can be forced to work like donkeys and paid very little while doing so. To address this, the government is looking at making Saudi employees even less attractive. It is investigating the possibilities of decreasing private sector work hours, from 5.5-6 days per week to a 5.0 workday week. It would reduce work hours to 35 per week. According to Saudi Gazette/Okaz, it would enforce more strictly laws protecting Saudis’ jobs. It would offer six weeks of vacation time and extend the three-day ‘Eid breaks to a full week, in consonance with that enjoyed by government employees.

All these measures would indeed make jobs more attractive to Saudis. They would not, however, make them competitive with foreign workers who will still work for less. These measures, then, would not at all address the problems of unemployment by themselves.

What might help is an across-the-board minimum salary law, requiring that all those in any particular type of work receive the same basic pay for the same work, foreign workers and Saudis alike. Efforts like the Nitiqat program to force employment of Saudis and the pushing out of foreign workers would also have to continue.

Left unaddressed, however, is the economic consequence of doing all of this. Replacing a $400/month worker with an $800/month Saudi worker will not make things cheaper. Offering bountiful vacations in which no work is being done will not improve production, no matter the good or service. Are Saudi citizens willing to pay substantially higher prices for things they already enjoy? Will the government be forced to increase or expand subsidies? The media is already full of complaints about inflation being brought on by the current global economy’s woes, with higher prices resulting from the higher costs of oil and petrochemicals. While Saudi Arabia is rich as a nation, Saudi citizens are not uniformly rich. And even the government is not infinitely rich. At some point, no more can be subsidized nor subsidies raised. Then what? Will all the workers tempted into jobs by the carrots then discover a stick to keep them at work?

Pvt sector work hours may be cut to attract Saudis
Muhammad Al-Enezi | Okaz/Saudi Gazette

DAMMAM — A new committee composed of members from different ministries will look into the disadvantages Saudi citizens face while working in the private sector.

Hattab Bin Saleh Al-Enezi, spokesman of the Ministry of Labor, told Okaz/Saudi Gazette, Saturday that private sector employees can expect more advantages, particularly in terms of the number of working hours, days off per week, and number of annual holidays, in order to encourage Saudis to work for the private sector.
He said this will see a significant decline in the number of Saudis quitting the private sector to work for the public sector every year.

“The Ministry of Labor rejects unfair termination of any Saudi employee in the private sector and will reinstate any Saudi whose contract has been terminated unfairly,” Al-Enezi said.

Many Saudi employees in the private sector want two days off in a week, seven working hours per day, and 45 days annual vacation, as opposed to 30 days, and longer Eid Al-Fitr and Eid Al-Adha holidays like those given to employees in the public sector.
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