Saudi unemployment rate among Saudi nationals has reached 10.5 per cent with 500,000 jobless Saudis looking for jobs, Beltone Financial reported citing the Saudi Labour Minister Adel Fakeih.

Fakeih added that there are about 8 million foreigners in Saudi Arabia annually sending remittances worth about SR100 billion ($266.6 million)

"There are nine employed foreign workers for each single unemployed Saudi," he said on Saturday at a meeting with businessmen, traders and representatives of the private sector at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI).

According to Saudi newspaper Arab News the minister said that the government has launched an initiative for the “Saudisation” of jobs which means raising the rate of Saudi nationals employed. He revealed that in government the figure currently stands at 90 per cent, while it is 20 per cent in investment companies and 10 per cent in private establishments.

The current target for the private sector is 15 per cent.