Riyadh - Saudi Arabia's labour minister issued an order on Thursday to restrict employment in shopping malls to Saudi nationals, who currently make up only one in five staff in the retail sector.
The kingdom has been steadily closing off different areas of
employment to foreigners, who comprise about a third of the
population, as it aims to create jobs for young Saudis and cut
the unemployment rate among nationals.
A statement from the minister for labour and social
development, posted on Twitter, defined malls as "closed
commercial centres", but did not elaborate on the number of jobs
affected or a timeline for implementation.
Read also: Timely SA-Saudi trade boost for local economy
According to the Vision 2030 economic reform plan released
last year, the Saudi retail sector currently employs 1.5 million
workers, of whom only 300 000 are Saudis. The plan calls for a
million new jobs for Saudis in the sector by 2020.