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Riyadh. Halah Alduhaylib strolls among the recruitment stands at a jobs fair in the Saudia Arabian capital of Riyadh where there are 10,000 positions available. Only Saudis need apply.

“This is my second fair this week. It’s a great chance for me,” said Alduhaylib, 28.

With a masters in computing from Britain’s Manchester Metropolitan University, she’s well-placed to benefit from the kingdom’s drive to reduce unemployment, a cause of unrest in many Middle Eastern countries, by forcing firms to hire local. Nine out of 10 nongovernment employees are foreigners.

King Abdullah this month imposed quotas that may force employers to cut foreign staff.

While that’s good news for Alduhaylib, it will raise costs for Saudi businesses and hurt poorer Arab countries which earn foreign currency from expatriate workers in the Gulf.

“Saudi Arabia’s ability to absorb labor from the region will be reduced. Oil-exporting nations have struggled to absorb people into productive employment,” said Jarmo Kotilaine, chief economist at Jeddah-based National Commercial Bank, citing Egypt.

Another example is Tunisia: Mohamed Bouazizi, the 26-year-old whose self-immolation helped trigger the regional revolution, was unemployed.

Egypt received $8.9 billion of net private transfers, mostly from Egyptian workers abroad, in the nine months through March, according to its central bank.

The Saudi contribution was $1 billion last year, John Sfakianakis, chief economist at Banque Saudi Fransi, said in a report.

Saudi Arabia cushioned the potential blow from lost remittances with $900 million of grants and loans under an accord signed this week.

The kingdom is the second-biggest global supplier of worker remittances after the United States, sending $26 billion last year, Banque Saudi Fransi said.

Neighboring Yemen, pushed close to civil war by five months of protests, is another recipient.

About one-third of Saudi adults have jobs, government figures show. Sfakianakis, the Banque economist, said the kingdom had the second-highest youth unemployment in the region, behind Iraq.

Meanwhile, almost 1 million work visas were issued to companies in 2009, more than double the 2005 figure.

“Saudi companies prefer the lower paid, better skilled foreign workers,” said Paul Gamble, head of research at Riyadh-based Jadwa Investment. “Now they will probably pay more for less productivity.”

Quotas for Saudi nationals range from 65 percent at larger firms such as Saudi Investment Bank — one of those hiring at the fair — to 10 percent for small retailers. Companies falling short won’t get permits for foreigners.

It’s the first time the state has “explicitly linked visas to employing Saudis,” Gamble said.

Gender, as well as nationality, is an issue. Saudi Arabia’s Wahhabi version of Islam requires segregation in many workplaces.

King Abdullah has vowed to get more Saudi women working, pledging 66,000 jobs in teaching and health care as part of $130 billion of extra spending.

Alduhaylib says she doesn’t mind working with men and is willing to travel if the king’s plan helps her land a job.

 

Bloomberg