Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, is more than halfway through its economic transformation blueprint, known as Vision 2030, aimed at reducing dependence on hydrocarbon income, creating jobs, and expanding industries such as tourism, real estate, mining and financial services.
As part of the long-term plan, the kingdom has invested massively in multi-billion-dollar megaprojects, vastly increasing demand for high-skilled foreign workers, but has struggled with execution and delays.

Foreign recruits should no longer expect to negotiate premiums of 40% or more, to sometimes even double their existing salaries, which were common earlier this decade, two of the sources said, with offers far more restrained now.

“On the one hand you have the region’s biggest economy rationalising and on the other side, you have a huge supply of candidates who are very open to coming to the region,” said Magdy Al Zein, Managing Director at recruiter, Boyden.

“So what you get is employers rethinking packages. That definitely has happened,” he added.

The change reflects a broader pivot by Saudi Arabia’s $925billion Public Investment Fund, which took a sizeable hit on its infrastructure and real estate-heavy megaprojects, towards sectors such as AI, logistics and mining, seen as offering better returns. Examples include NEOM, a $500 billion planned futuristic city in the desert, and the mountain tourism hub Trojena, host to the2029 Asian Winter Games.

–Rueters–