Gold shops in the Kingdom are facing a number of challenges in implementing the Ministry of Labor and Social Development’s decision to nationalize jobs in gold shops. These include non-availability of trained Saudis willing to work for low pay and long hours, in addition to tasattur operations where non-Saudis run the businesses in the name of Saudis in return for a fixed payment.

Youssef Al-Masari, an owner of a gold shop, told local daily Al-Madina that about 75 percent of gold shops in the Kingdom were established by foreign capital. He blamed the Ministry of Commerce and Investment for not doing enough to supervise the market by intensifying inspection tours. “The tasattur, the lack of interest by Saudis to work in the sector and the rising costs of operation are among the many challenges facing the gold market,” he said.

Masari said despite the numerous incentives given to them, the Saudis still prefer to work in government jobs over the private sector. “The owners have to pay the municipality fees, high electricity and water bills in addition to the wages and other operation costs,” he said. Masari said it will be difficult for the shop owners to meet the expenses of operation especially as the Saudis are not willing to work for less than SR5,000 a month.

“There are some shops that were able to Saudize jobs by 100 percent because they have enough resources while many others do not,” he said. However, Khaled Al-Mibaireek, another shop owner, said the government support has facilitated the nationalization of jobs by about 90 percent. He said he faced no problems when his Saudi employees decided to quit. There are many Saudis wishing to work in the private sector because the salaries are five times more than government salaries in low level jobs.

Market experts believe that among the problems facing the gold shops is that a number of traditional shop owners have left the market and many “intruders” have come in their place. They said the absence of training institutes have impeded Saudization of about 1,000 jobs in about 200 gold shops.

The experts said the cartels formed by certain nationalities dominate more than 90 percent of the shops leaving no room for Saudis to enter the business. There are about 2,000 investors in the Kingdom owning about 5,000 gold shops and showrooms. The value of the gold jewelry in the market is estimated to be around SR22 billion with annual sales reaching about SR5 billion. Between 15,000 and 20,000 people work in gold shops in the country.

SOURCE : SAUDIGAZETTE