Saudi Gazette THE Ministry of Labor and Social Development has started this year the implementation of its plan to Saudize the telecommunication sector. The plan became effective earlier this year and the businesses were given a six-month period to fully implement the decision. The Saudization of this sector comes to fulfill four goals which include: Providing opportunities for job seekers at reasonable wages, developing a national manpower that goes in line with the National Transformation Plan, overcoming the cover-up businesses and unauthorized expatriates, and developing establishments that are equipped to welcome national manpower. Nine government bodies have collaborated to make this decision effective, they include: Ministry of Labor and Social Development, Ministry of Commerce and Investment, Ministry of Telecommunication and Information Technology, Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs, General Organization for Social Services, Human Resources Development Fund, Technical and Vocational Training Corporation (TVTC), Saudi Credit and Saving Bank and Riyada'a. The TVTC has provided free training for Saudi jobseekers in sales, customer service, basic mobile repairing and advanced mobile repairing. While the SCSB has providing funding to those willing to invest in the sector, HRDF provided financial aid to establishments employing Saudis while other government bodies collaborated with the ministry in strictly implementing the system in all Kingdom regions. The National System for Joint Training (NSJT) also provide training for the Saudi staff willing to work in the telecom establishments and it also support these establishments by paying 50% of the salaries of these Saudis for 24 months. The NSJT has provided training for over 40,000 many of whom are in Jeddah, Riyadh, Madinah, Qassim, Dammam and Makkah. According to ministry's figures the second stage of Saudizing the telecommunication sector shows that some 95% of shops have adhered to the system compared to only 20% who adhered to the system in the first stage. The ministry conducted this month 1,975 inspection tours and documented 340 violations. The ministry has initiated a long-term strategy that aims at equipping Saudis to dominate the job market over the period of 25 years which started in 2010. The unemployment rate has dropped since the implementation of the shift strategy and in 2015 the number of unemployed Saudis was 647,000. The plan also included making the private sector an attractive hub for Saudi jobseekers, this led to the increase of Saudis in the private sector who exceeded 1.7 million by 2015. The year 2015 also marked an increase in the number of employed Saudi women who increased by 21% compared to 2014. Among the domains that women increased their presence in are: Construction, training, social services, downstream industry, insurance, real estate and business, transportation, agriculture and fishing, mining, electricity, water, and gas. Meanwhile the ministry has supported special needs people through its program "Tawafouq" and Nitaqat Plus. The ministry has provided training to people with special needs in Riyadh, Makkah and Madinah. The ministry also works on categorizing these people based on their disability and needs. An annual statistic report issued by the ministry shows that the number of cases that it received adds up to 6,524 which include 52,410 workers. While the total amount of fines that the ministry collected in 2015 is over SR25.8 million. The Ministry of Labor has started to implement a wage protection system based on seven stages to ensure that employees get their salaries on time. Over 7,000 establishments have been included in 2015 in the wage protection system with more to be included in the coming two stages. To make the Saudization effective no Saudis are included in Nitaqat if their monthly wages are bellow SR1,500 noted the report.
