Shoura member suggests a 7 p.m. shop closure

JEDDAH, 14 July, 2016: The Ministry of Labor and Social Development has reignited the debate on the early closure of shops. One Shoura member has gone so far as to suggest most shops should close at 7 p.m. However, the ministry’s spokesman, Khaled Aba Al-Khail, said the ministry is still studying a proposal for closure of shops at 9 p.m. before its submission to higher authorities. Under the proposal, restaurants, entertainment centers and coffee shops would remain open until midnight on week days, and until 1 a.m. on weekends, he said. The Ministry of Labor and Social Development says regulating working hours will improve employment opportunities for Saudis in the private sector. Shoura member Fahad Jomaa has called for opening of shops at 8:30 a.m. and closing them 7 p.m., rather than 9 p.m., amounting to a 40-hour workweek with a two-day weekend. “Small businesses face a major challenge in getting used to government decisions that are issued suddenly and often have negative impacts on the profits of these companies,” he said. “The decision first needs to be made about working hours in a manner that serves the employee and the consumer, and cannot be set at random that does more harm than good. As such, retail hours should be set immediately to be from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., with breaks only for prayers and lunch, while weekends should be Friday and Saturday,” he said. “Secondly, wages should be paid hourly, rather than monthly. This will boost competition between employees and increase productivity per hour,” Jomaa said. Mohammed Al-Qahtani, a member of the Management and Human Resources Committee, has supported the proposal to close shops at 9 p.m., as well as rationalization in the expansion and opening of new jobs. He cited Abdulrahman Al-Zamil's remark in saying that “there is a shop for every 17 citizens or residents, which is a high rate, and the disaster is that these are operated by expats, those not concerned about opening and closing hours, and who would love to work 24 hours a day.” ArabNews