Fake employment across the Kingdom has continued to affect Saudization adversely despite efforts by the authorities concerned to curb the practice in the interest of the nation.

There are even cases of cheating, in which a national is promised a government job in exchange of money, sometimes even up to SR10,000, and he/she faces an unending wait for the promised job, local media reported on Saturday.

In case of fake employment, a citizen is offered some monthly payment for registering as an employee to show the fulfillment of the national jobs quota, the report said, adding that much more efforts are needed to curb this practice. “We only offer jobs actually available in the labor market in exchange for a nominal fee. However, we have noticed that an increasing number of citizens are looking for such fake jobs where he/she is registered as an employee in a private firm and the citizen’s name is in the social insurance system,” Abu Fahd, an employment mediator, was quoted as saying.

Abdullah bin Shaker Al-Ghalib Al-Sharif, secretary-general of the Makkah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said fake employment is one of the most threatening practices in the labor market. “The MCCI has taken a pledge to combat such practice by employing all its capabilities to open job opportunities for young Saudi males and females by training on the job, in a bid to promote Saudization,” he said.

Al-Sharif said his chamber provided more than 1,600 jobs to both males and females in cooperation with other bodies. “The headquarters of the chamber has witnessed more than 8,000 citizens competing for jobs during the few past weeks,” he said.

The secretary-general of MCCI praised the Ministry of Labor for implementing a comprehensive project to fight fake employment. He said the ministry works on the implementation of the system and regulations against the violators of Saudization .

Ali Hasan, a citizen said one of the things that forces the employer to resort to fake Saudization is the terms and conditions stipulated by the labor office. “It is but natural that some employers circumvent the Saudization system because, for instance, if I want to open a bakery or a carpentry workshop where I only need three workers, what job can I give to a Saudi citizen? My project yields only about SR2,000 or 3,000 per month. How will all this work out if the Saudi worker must be paid SR3,000 each month?”

Another citizen, Mohammad Rajab, said the easiest way to get money without working is fake employment. “This is actually what I discovered after a long journey to find a job following my university graduation. I could not find a job that would enable me to pay the rent. When I got tired, a relative offered to pay me SR1,500 per month to work as data entry employee. When we argued about the salary, he told me that I did not have to work and that only register my name and I would get the salary. Of course I had to agree,” he said.

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