DAMMAM: The Human Resources Development Fund (Hadaf) is in the process of setting up a national organization to monitor employment, under the supervision of the Ministry of Labor and with the participation of a number of government agencies including the General Organization for Social Insurance (GOSI). This was the announcement made Wednesday by Engineer Ahmad Mansour Al-Zamil, Director General of Hadaf, while addressing a meeting held by the Chamber of Commerce in the Eastern Province. He pointed out that the Ministry of Labor has assigned Al-Alam Company to provide data on jobseekers in the Kingdom. He said all the statistics and details of jobseekers in the ministry's database, in addition to data held by other agencies, will be incorporated into a unified database. He said the fund has tasked a number of teams to work out a mechanism to pay unemployment benefits to jobseekers, as set out in last week's royal decree. Payments will take place very soon, he added. He said the fund's Board of Directors has given the go-ahead for loans to establish new training institutes in areas where they do not exist. This is to encourage the training of jobseekers for jobs needed in the labor market. He said the loan can be repaid in 10 years, with an additional grace period of two years. He said the fund has started implementing a program to offer unemployed Saudis scholarships to receive advanced training for much-needed jobs. He urged companies to make use of this program. Students selected for this program will be given training not provided by training institutes in the Kingdom. He said the fund's board of directors is considering a proposal to award a prize to national companies which encourage the employment of Saudi youths on condition that the employed Saudis remain in the job for at least two years. He said Hadaf offers Saudi youth, who remain in their jobs for one year, an additional salary and training at one of the local training institutes in the Kingdom. Saudis who remain for two years in a job will be offered two salaries and a training course abroad. He said the fund will start implementing a new program classifying the companies which employ Saudis. The classification will be based on the number of Saudis they employ. As an incentive for companies that abide by the Saudization quota, the fund will pay the salaries of the Saudis working at these companies for a certain period. Companies which do not achieve the required Saudization quota will be deprived of the services rendered by the Ministry of Labor.
