Expats occupy 60,000 jobs in health, education sectors: Shoura member

Shoura Council member, Saeed Bin Qasim Al-Khaldi Al-Maliki, has said there was a dire need to open more job opportunities for the Saudis and to nationalize government jobs which will cut down unemployment and create more openings for Saudi citizens.

"We should not depend in these jobs on the non-Saudis forever while we have qualified Saudis who are capable of doing perfectly the jobs not only in these two sectors but in all other fields," he said.

He called for studying the nationalization of educational jobs in Saudi universities for citizens with Master's and Ph.D degrees.

"Interviews carried out by contracting committees are not enough. We should entirely update the conditions and parameters concerning recruitment of foreign university teachers," he said.

Quoting the statistical reports of the General Authority for Statistics (GaStat), Al-Maliki said there were 60,000 jobs in the sector of education and health which are currently filled by expatriates and are open for nationalization.

"Are there no sufficient qualified Saudis to take over these jobs which are being filled by non-Saudis," he asked.

He said personal interviews conducted by the contracting committees with the foreign teachers are not enough and called for entirely updating the terms and conditions of the foreign contracts.

Quoting a report by the Ministry of Civil Service, Al-Maliki said there were 41,000 non-Saudis being employed by the government and said the Kingdom should not depend always on the foreign hands.

He also said there are a large number of the qualified Saudis who are capable of taking jobs in the health sector.

"The Kingdom's 2030 Vision is aimed at increasing the contribution of the private sector in the process of development through the provision of various services. The health sector is lucrative to the private sector," he added.

Al-Malik called for easing the employment procedures for the Saudi youth instead of putting hurdles along their paths.

"Our universities should not make it difficult for the Saudi cadres to become staff members while they are extremely lenient with the foreign manpower," he said.