The Ministry of Labor has said that it may have to cast the recruitment net more widely in the face of reluctance from many countries to join the list of providers of foreign workers. Deputy Minister of Labor Abdul Wahid Al-Humaid said that many countries in discussion with the National Recruitment Committee over domestic labor recruitment had expressed their concern over “sensitive issues” in sending labor, but added that the ministry would have no objections to diversifying its sources of recruitment for domestic workers or other roles if necessary. The Kingdom, Al-Humaid said, will remain in need of foreign recruitment “even if the employment rate goes down to zero”. Regulations governing the creation of large recruitment companies, meanwhile, will soon be finalized to improve training, provide experience and curb excessive recruitment, according to Al-Humaid. “All citizens have the right to recruit if there is a proven need,” Al-Humaid said. “The ministry is not seeking to stop recruitment but rather limit it in the face of emerging commercial activity that does not serve the national economy but instead represent a burden.” “Some people make formal applications at labor offices with no intention of hiring labor, but only to do ‘visa business',” he said, citing the practice of illegal trading in work visas. Al-Humaid described the ministry as in a similar position to other labor ministries around the world in terms of the employment challenges before it, but said that it was tackling unemployment through the training and recruitment programs of the Human Resources Development Fund. An unqualified and unemployed person, the deputy minister said, received training and help in finding work.
