Prior to its implementation, the private sector was largely dominated by expatriate workers from India, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Arab countries such as Lebanon and Egypt.
[8] 'Saudization' of the workforce has been a goal of the kingdom since at least the Fourth Development Plan (1985–1989) which called for replacing foreign workers with Saudi natives as one of its objectives.
In the case of two Chinese companies, they received full waivers from Saudization, according to discussions between US ambassador James C. Oberwetter and Saudi executives.
[citation needed] In 2014 the Saudi Gazette reported that one of the targets of the kingdom's Ninth Development Plan (2010–2015) — to "bring down the unemployment rate to 5.5 percent and revive the Saudization strategy"—had not been realized.
Average Saudi employment growth in the manufacturing and wholesale and retail sectors was also high, at 25 percent each.
The higher growth in Saudi employment in the construction sector is impressive given the particularly high wage differential from non-Saudis.
Another example is garbage collection and street cleaning, which is done in a primitive way requiring manual labor in low working conditions.
When legislation reserved employment for Saudis in certain designated industries such as taxi driving and selling gold, the laws were quickly rescinded when the targeted industries "degenerated, almost immediately, into chaos" after non-native workers were replaced by Saudis with "no job knowledge and little inclination to work."
The first phase of Saudization went into effect in September 2018, wherein car dealerships and sellers of clothing, furniture, and household utensils would employ locals in approximately 70% of sales jobs.
[13] Nitaqat system is a Saudization program aiming to increase the employment of Saudi nationals in the private sector.
[14] Rapid visa services are available only to businesses that are in the platinum category of the Nitaqat system to improve employment for Saudis.
[16] More than 200,000 private firms were closed down in 2014 for failing to meet the conditions set within the Nitaqat nationalization program aimed at reducing unemployment among Saudis.
The officials check on employees with disabilities during inspection rounds to identify the nature of the work, their presence at the job, and the type of arrangements and services provided to them, noting that the number of people with disabilities employed at a facility cannot exceed 10 percent.
They must be paid a minimum monthly wage of 3,000 riyals and should not be counted as part of the Saudization ratio of another establishment.