A Saudi worker will be counted in the private sector's Nitaqat percentage only when he gets a minimum monthly salary of SR3000, announced Labor Minister Adel Fakieh here Saturday, issuing a decision addressing the problem of low salaries of Saudi nationals in the private sector.

A Saudi worker receiving a monthly salary of less than SR3000 will be counted as ‘half a worker’ and a Saudi worker whose salary is less than SR1500 will not be counted at all in the Nitaqat program, the minister said.

The private sector has been given a grace period of five months from the date of the issuance of the ministerial decision to rectify the pay structure.

The new edition of the Nitaqat program also deals with Saudis working on part-time basis, students, physically challenged people capable of work, and released Saudi prisoners.

There are other important amendments to raise the program’s capability to Saudize jobs and tackle the problem of bogus Saudization and other negative phenomena.

The minister said that each Saudi part-time worker will be counted as “half a worker” provided his company pays social insurance subscription on a minimum salary of SR1500. The part-time worker will not be counted in Saudization percentage for more than two enterprises.

The same rule applies to a Saudi student on condition that his employer pays social insurance subscription for a minimum salary of SR1500. The student must not be counted in the Saudization percentage of another company or enterprise.

A Saudi student will be counted in the Nitaqat percentage on condition that the number of Saudi students working in a company must not exceed 10 percent of the total number of Saudi workers in the company.

Whatever exceeds this percentage will be counted as nil in the Saudization percentage unless the enterprise the students are working in is a restaurant where the percentage of Saudi students must not exceed 25% of the total number of Saudi workers.

A physically challenged person capable of working will be counted as four Saudi workers. The minimum monthly salary should be SR3000. He should be registered in the General Organization for Social Insurance (GOSI) and he should not be working in another company or establishment.

If the percentage of physically challenged persons exceeds 10 percent of the number of Saudis in a company then each disabled person will be counted similar to a normal worker.

Fakieh had announced last month that the new version of the nationalization plan will focus on wages and not only numbers when it comes to the percentage of Saudization achieved by a certain company.

“The new version will focus on quality, not only quantity, and improve wages,” Fakieh said in August.

“We’re going to design mechanisms that focus on the level of wages. If a certain wage is less than the required level, it won’t be accepted by Nitaqat. So we’re not looking only at the number of Saudis to say whether Saudization requirement or percentage has been met or not, we’re also looking at the amount of wages.”

The Nitaqat program categorizes companies in four zones — Excellent, Green, Yellow and Red. Companies in the first two categories have met the required Saudization quotas and are offered perks including the ability to apply for work visas and renew their expatriate workers’ residency permits (Iqamas). Companies in the Red and Yellow categories failed to meet the required Saudization quotas and are slapped with various restrictions.

Fakieh said his ministry is aware of attempts by some companies to get around the system by giving fake employment contracts to Saudis and thus show that the company has employed the required number of Saudis.

“These attempts will come to a stop when the ministry, in conjunction with the Passport Administration, starts conducting joint inspection visits in about three months. They will also put an end to the activities related to foreign workers who do not work for their sponsors, a phenomenon that has been on the increase ever since Saudization enforcement committees stopped paying visits to businesses,” he said.