Over the past six months, a total of 6,000 male and female Saudis have been employed through various job marketing events. The process began with Jeddah's Labor Office's pioneering decision to bring together job seekers and employers at their office. Interviews were held, resulting in the employment of more than 4,000 citizens. Companies that participated at the Labor Market exhibition that was recently held in Jeddah received more than 5,000 job applications from men and women. An employment festival was then organized and 2,000 people were employed. The Labor Office's Director, Qusai Filali, said the ministry's approach in recent years has been to consider the private sector a partner in job creation efforts. “We can't accuse the private sector of not wanting to hire young Saudis. If there are some companies that refuse to or avoid hiring Saudis, then they are very few,” he said, without citing a certain number. However, “we have the ability to pressure companies that do not comply with the ministry regarding employment. We have the full authority to suspend (foreign) recruitment for them,” he said, adding that the ministry has an inspection department that conducts company visits to check the rates of Saudization.
