Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Labor and Social Development issued an order, Thursday, limiting jobs at shopping malls to Saudi nationals. The Labor Ministry’s statement added that the new move should adhere to employing female sales assistants in women’s clothing and lingerie shops, which are mainly inside shopping malls.

The statistics issued by Central Department of Statistics and Information (CDSI), the official statistical center on Saudi labor market indicators, may be the reason for issuing this decision, before issuing a decision to reduce the hours of work in the centers and close them at 9 pm.

CDSI announced that the unemployment rate among Saudis rise to hit 12.3%. The rate of unemployment amongst Saudi men reached 5.9%, and 34.5% amongst women.

The unemployment rate was higher when the Ministry of Labor put its plan to increase the number of Saudis in the private sector in 2010 to about 9.6 percent, and the plans were aimed at reducing them to 5.5 percent in 2014.
 
The total number of Saudi jobseekers was 917.5 thousand, of whom 177.5 thousand were males, 739.9 thousand were males, 19.4 percent were males, 80.6 percent were Saudis, and 76.5 thousand were employed, Fourth last 177.5 thousand.
 
Observers considered that the decision would give priority to women, but that its implementation would face challenges, including the failure to set a minimum hourly wage, as in other countries, the lack of public transport in light of the high cost of taxis and the reduction of working hours and closing the shops at 9 pm.