Establishments arbitrarily firing Saudi employees will get their services suspended, Adel Fakieh, Minister of Labor, has warned. The minister was addressing the three-day Jeddah Forum for Human Resources Development which began here Sunday. When asked about Hafiz Program and why some applicants have not been able to get jobs so far, the minister said he will have to study the cases to know the reasons. The ministry, he said, will try to offer them good jobs. Fakieh said his ministry was studying some solutions for minimum wages and reduction of work hours in the private sector as is incorporated in the Royal Decree issued recently. “The ministry will finalize its findings and send the report to King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques,” he said. Regarding recruitment companies, Fakieh said that the ministry was in touch with relevant authorities in Indonesia and the Philippines and any new developments will be looked into by the Ministry. “The Kingdom's position is clear and firm and the Kingdom won't accept any condition that infringes upon the honor of its citizens but will be ready to re-discuss the issue of recruiting housemaids and drivers from Indonesia and the Philippines if it is in line with the previous procedures applied in the Kingdom,” he said. The employment strategy aims to provide Saudi citizens with job opportunities in a way that enhances the competitive capability of national economy, he explained. The ministry developed a strategy dealing with employment and unemployment for male and female citizens and how to make the citizen the first choice for any employer, he added. According to current indicators, the number of job seekers is larger than the number given by the Central Department of Statistics and Information, he said. “According to 2009 statistics, there were 448,000 jobless citizens and eight million expatriate residents working in the private sector,” he said. __
