Saudi Arabia has banned foreigners from certain jobs in
favour of giving them to Saudi citizens.
The Kingdom's Minister of Labour ordered that jobs in 12
private sector areas would be restricted to domestic applications from early
September 2018.
Ali bin Nasser al-Ghafis said the ministry's objective was
to give more employment opportunities to Saudi men and women, the Saudi Gazette
reports. A spokesman for the ministry, Khalid Abalkhail, said the jobs were
mostly in retail and sales, including sales in watches, glasses, medical
equipment, cars and motorbikes.
The decision comes after the unemployment rate in Saudi Arabia rose over 12 per cent last year as the government has seen its finances strained by low oil prices. And it comes as part of a drive to renovate Saudi Arabia's economy by the country's new Crown Prince, Muhammad bin Salman.
Before he became successor to the king, Prince Muhammad said
he had "great opportunities to create jobs in the private sector."
During an interview with The Economist in 2014, he said he had "reserves" of "ten million jobs that are being occupied by non-Saudi employees" that he could "resort to at any time of my choosing." He went on to say he did not want to "pressure the private sector, unless this is the last resort."
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