Saudization forces 212,000 businesses to close down

The government's nationalization plan has been more difficult to apply for some businesses than others, with over 212,000 going out of business this year for not employing Saudis. The failure to meet the Saudization target has also led many businesses to cook the books, a phenomenon that now affects 50 percent of the Kingdom's industries, according to the chairman of the National Committee for Young Businessmen, Ali Saleh Al-Aytham. Furthermore, Al-Aytham pointed out that the Ministry of Labor hasn’t shown any signs of embracing emerging projects and is not moving forward on its decision to create more employment opportunities for Saudis. He draws these conclusions in a research paper on the labor market's performance in light of the Labor Ministry's legislation and its effect on emerging projects. The research states that these rulings forced new establishments to look for disabled nationals, former prisoners, students or Saudis who aren’t registered with any other entity. These employees, according to the paper, are given minimum wages for no actual work, creating ghost or fake jobs.   Arab News