Saudi Arabia sets minimum wage for expats at SR2,500

The Labor Ministry is considering to fix the minimum wage for Saudis in the private sector at SR5,300 ($1412) and for expatriates at SR2,500 ($666).

The decision will be implemented in 2015 when the third and final phase of the wage protection program is over, local Arabic daily Al-Jazirah reported on Tuesday quoting informed labor market sources.

The second phase of the program started in March and was applied on companies with 1,000 workers or more. Under the program, all private sector companies and establishments should transfer the salaries of their Saudi and non-Saudi employees directly to their bank accounts.

The sources said the fixing of minimum wages was aimed at attracting more Saudis to the private sector, boost the process of job nationalization and end the fake Saudization which some private establishments resort to so as to remain in the green Nitaqat zone.

They said the ministry will electronically follow up to make sure that companies are committed to the minimum wages for both Saudis and expatriates and that they are not delaying salary payments.

According to Mansour Al-Shethry, chairman of the Saudi Labor Market Committee, a total of 1,600,070 Saudis are currently employed by the private sector.

“They outnumber the citizens working for the government by about 500,000,” he said.

Al-Shethry said the the salaries of the Saudis employed in the private sector are less than those of the expatriates.

A recent study, conducted by the World Bank and the Ministry of National Economy and Planning said the salaries of the Saudis employed by the private sector are less than those of their counterparts in other GCC countries.

The study also said the salaries of the Saudi men are more than the women by about 20 percent for the same job.

This article was first published in the Saudi Gazette on Nov. 12, 2014.