Saudi Arabia Appoints Its Third Labor Minister in Three Years

Banking heir Al Rajhi takes over post amid high unemployment
King Salman seeking to modernize economy, create new jobs

Monica Malik, chief economist at Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, talks about the challengs the Saudi economy faces.(Source: Bloomberg)

Provide news feedback or report an error

Confidential tip?

Send a tip to our reporters

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

By Zainab Fattah

June 2, 2018 at 8:22 AM UTC

Updated on

June 2, 2018 at 1:59 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

Saudi Arabia appointed its third labor minister in little more than three years as the oil-rich kingdom struggles to reduce unemployment among its overwhelmingly young population.

King Salman dismissed Ali bin Nasser Al-Ghafis from the post, replacing him with Ahmed bin Sulaiman Al Rajhi, a scion of one of Saudi Arabia’s largest banking families, according to royal orders published by state media on Saturday. Al-Ghafis had been labor minister since December 2016. Before him, Mufrej Al-Haqbani served in the post from April 2015.