Saudi Arabia restricts human resources jobs to citizens

Saudi Arabia has said that human resources jobs in the kingdom are restricted to Saudi nationals as the kingdom is seeking to provide more work for its citizens.

The confirmation was made by the Saudi Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development in response to a query from a citizen who said he had been interviewed by a foreigner working as a human resources specialist at a medical centre.

Meanwhile, the ministry announced that the second phase of a decree localising the consultancy services professions by 40 per cent of the overall manpower has gone into effect.

The first phase took effect in April last year, stipulating that 35 per cent of the employees in these jobs must be Saudis.

In recent years, Saudi Arabia has launched a series of initiatives to employ its nationals and replace foreign workers in several fields including education, telecommunications and real estate as part of a labour policy known as “Saudisation”.

Earlier this year, Saudi Arabia has said it will partially localise engineering jobs. The decision will take effect on July 21 to Saudise 25 per cent of engineering professions in private sector establishments that employ at least five workers each in these jobs.

In December, Saudi labour authorities said a decision to localise jobs of sales, purchases and project management went into effect. The Ministry of Human Resources said the sales professions are initially Saudised by 15 per cent covering jobs of sales manager, retail sales manager, sales specialist, wholesale manager, information technology and telecom equipment specialist, and sales agent.

In September, the kingdom unveiled a plan to localise the dental profession, initially setting it at 35 per cent as of this March. The Ministry of Health said it will follow up the implementation of the decision geared towards increasing Saudis’ engagement in the labour market. Compliant private sector institutions stand to benefit from incentives and support programmes offered by the Ministry of Human Resources to help them employ Saudis.

These incentives include backing the process of looking for qualified employees, training and employment continuity as well as having access to Saudi employment support programmes.