Riyadh- Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Labor and Social Development official revealed that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia receives approximately million and a half in foreign labor workers annually.

The official highlighted that the Saudi market does not suffer from unemployment; alternatively it struggles with the offered employment posts and the competitive feature of employment featuring local employment vs. foreign employment.

Saudi Deputy Labor and Social Development Minister Ahmed Al-Humaidan told Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper that the Ministry implements standards targeted at lowering the Kingdom’s unemployment rates, among which is stepping up competition between foreign and national employees.

He added that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia experiences an evident issue with employment hierarchy and proportionality of posts. Higher posts are found to be over dominated by expatriates.

A new (Mawzoon) Nitaqat system, which comes into effect on Dec. 11, 2016, will put an end to the dominance of expatriate workers in critical jobs and bring down the unemployment rate, said Deputy Labor and Social Development Minister Ahmed Al-Humaidan.

The new system is anticipated to eventually balance the labor market.

Addressing a press conference, Al-Humaidan said that the revised system will also improve the job market situation, raise the quality of employment, generate suitable jobs for Saudi men and women, create a secured and an inviting working environment and end unproductive Saudization.

The new Saudization system comes in line with the Kingdom’s reform Vision “2030”. It will realize the objectives of the National Transformation Program.

Al- Humaidan also highlighted that the initiative and procedures put in effect will increase the demand on Saudi labor, in addition to protecting its presence in the labor market.

The ministry had recently introduced Mawzoon as part of its efforts to encourage private firms to employ more Saudis and bring about reform in the job market, keeping in line with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.