Saudi taxi drivers complain over foreign employment
Saudi Arabia, Economics, 2/18/2005

Hundreds of Saudi taxi drivers organized "a unique" complaint in the capital Riyadh to that the government is not taking decisions banning non-Saudis to work in the sector of taxi driving.

The Saudi daily Riyadh said that the drivers stopped their cars in front of the palace of the Saudi crown prince Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz and presented complaints from 1200 drivers angered by the postponement of gradual dismissal of foreign drivers.

They indicated they loose because of the competition with foreign drivers with Pakistanis being the majority of them.

The paper added that the minister of labor Ghazi al-Quseibi considered that the likely number of Saudi driver will not meet the needs of the market and decided on a rate of dismissal of 30% at the meantime.

Al-Quseibi told journalists earlier this month that the number of foreign workers in Saudi Arabia reached 6 million at the meantime out of the Kingdom's total populations of 32 million.

However, the Saudi al-Iqtisadeyah on Thursday published a study saying that the Saudis only constitute 41% of the labor force in Riyadh.

Since years, Saudi Arabia has been trying to lessen dependence on foreign labor. The Saudi authorities have been planning to gradually dismiss foreign taxi drivers as from the beginning of the new Hijra year, last week.

Previous Stories:
  Egyptian -Saudi Businessmen Council probes increasing volume of trade exchange   (2/14/2005)
  Rasheed: Solutions reached to trade problems with Saudi Arabia   (1/12/2005)
  Saudi fund for development supports financing Saudi exports for Tunisia   (12/31/2004)
  Saudi Arabia: New income-tax on foreign companies   (8/17/2004)
  Saudi Arabia to reduce foreign labor   (5/9/2001)

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