The Ministry of Labor will start monitoring the wages of expatriates in a month's time, said Adil Fakieh, Minister of Labor. The minister was quoted as saying in a section of the Arabic press on Sunday that the monitoring for companies with over 1,000 workers will start in three months' time. Fakieh also announced that the ministry has started implementing a program to protect the wages of expatriate labor force in the private sector and that the program is being studied by the ministry and specialized bodies. He said the ministry will soon publish recruitment standards for hiring expatriates to work domestically. Saudi Gazette reported last month that the new wage monitoring system will check that the monthly salaries of Saudi and expatriate employees are paid into their bank accounts in line with the terms of their employment contracts. Fakieh had said government aims to cut unemployment among Saudi citizens, now about 10.5 percent, and to boost the number of Saudi citizens employed in the private sector by 50 percent over the next three years.
