The packages can't get any 'sweeter' but Saudis are still fleeing the public sector

 Around 7,000 (4,217 female and 2,824 male) public sector employees quit their jobs between August and October, Makkah Arabic daily reported on Sunday, quoting the Ministry of Labor statistics.

The majority of those who quit their jobs were from the education sector, consisting of 3,893 women and 1,432 men.

In the health sector, 117 men and 76 women quit their jobs, while eight out of 43 members of the Bureau of Investigation and Public Prosecution also decided to leave.

This year 35 judges left, three in October alone. The figures said 21,667 employees quit their jobs this year.

Meanwhile, the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry organized a three-day employment campaign last week with the participation of 44 big companies, Al-Watan reported.

A report published by the chamber stated the campaign’s target to fill these jobs was not met due to poor attendance.

The campaign was organized in cooperation with the Human Resources Development Fund.

There were over 2,758 job opportunities offered for salaries from SR5,000 ($1300)  to SR15,000 ($4000) in addition to health insurance coverage and other benefits.

Only 811 job vacancies were filled despite the strong marketing campaign. The fund had also sent private invitations to its database of unemployed people.

Ali Askar Al-Hamsy, who attended the conference, said the jobs offered did not match his academic qualification and were mostly in the retail industry.

Fellow attendee Ibrahim Ahmad Ibrahim said even in the private sector he does not find suitable jobs matching his qualifications, and expatriates always get the better positions.

The Ministry of Labor has said in an earlier report that there was extremely high staff turnover among women employees in the retail industry.

The Human Resources Development Fund’s Deputy Director General for Employment Support Mansour Al-Mansour listed nine reasons why women do not tend to stay in the sector.

They include a lack of clear career paths, low pay, insufficient incentives, unclear work policies and procedures in companies, unsuitable work environments, a desire to return to education, a wish to join the public sector, lack of efficient training, and work pressures.

The Makkah Chamber of Commerce and Industry held a successful career fair where 5,000 job opportunities were offered mainly in the hotels and hospitality, Makkah daily reported.

Makkah chamber’s general supervisor of career fairs Hasan Kansarah said the event offered 500 job opportunities in the hotel industry and more than 2,500 applied for the positions.

He said: “Twenty-six hotel companies offered jobs at 38 hotels in the luxurious Jabal Omar hotels resort near the Grand Mosque.

“The fair went on for three days and we had 840 applicants on the first day alone.”

He said hotels were looking for applicants in finance, restaurants, internal services, maintenance, catering, reception, human resources, safety and security, and administration.

The salaries offered start from SR4,000 ($1000) along with housing, health insurance for the employee and his family, training workshops, and bonuses, he said.