Saudi Council member says 50,000 Saudis lost their jobs in past 9 months

A member of the Saudi Arabia consultative body, known as the Shura Council, said as many as 50,000 Saudi employees were dismissed from the private sector while 172,000 foreign employees were hired during the past nine months.

Abdullah Al-Jughaiman, a member of the Shura Council, said he believes that the public sector is not obliged to employ people, but to create job opportunities for citizens.

Al-Jughaiman made his remarks during an interview with the Al-Shura program broadcast on Saudi’s Channel 1, the Saudi 24 News website reported.

Al-Jugaiman said during the interview which broached the topic of the Ministry of Finance’s annual report which was recently discussed at the Council that “these figures reflect a lack of coordination between the Ministry of Civil Service and the Ministry of Labour and Social Development.”

“It is not necessarily true that every citizen should get a government job – this does not exist in the world. However, it is important that relevant government agencies work to provide a variety of career opportunities, whether in the private or the public sector,” he added.

Another Council member, Ma’adi Al-Mathat, said during the same show that the private sector has great social responsibility to embrace young people at the beginning of their employment, adding that people should not be employed based on their nationality but on their qualifications.