The Ministry of Labor has set up a team to visit various establishments and companies to check on reports that some Saudis have been retrenched under the pretext of the world economic crisis. Dr. Abdel-Wahid Al-Humeid, Deputy Labor Minister, said the team was set up after local media reports suggested that some companies have resorted to arbitrarily terminating the services of Saudis. In a statement to Saudi Press Agency Monday night on the sidelines of the prize awarding ceremony of Al-Iqtisadia newspaper for the best Saudi working environment, Dr. Al-Humeid pointed out that so far the termination of the service of Saudi employees due to the world economic crisis has not become a phenomenon. He added that no authenticated cases have been reported in this respect. Dr. Al-Humeid said regulations pertaining to minimum wages should be part of an integrated economic policy, adding that if the wages go up then society should be ready to face the consequences of that because an increase in wages will be followed by rise in prices that will lead to increase in the rate of inflation. Dr. Al-Humeid attributed the increase of the foreign work force in the last two years to the boom witnessed by the Kingdom, and said in the light of this reality it was an essential matter for the Labor Ministry to tackle it in a flexible manner. Meanwhile, Prince Dr. Faisal Bin Salman Bin Abdul Aziz, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Saudi Group for Research and Marketing, honored the winning companies in accordance with the list of Al-Iqtisadia for the best Saudi working environment for 2008.
