The new government decision to Saudize the taxi-driving sector does not call for the kind of clamor being raised in the local media. The government decision is surely a litmus test for several other employment schemes for Saudis.
According to available statistics, more than 13 percent of Saudis are unemployed while most of the 25,000 taxi drivers in the Kingdom are non-Saudis. This is the dire situation that has forced the authorities to reserve some particular jobs in the highly-competitive employment market for Saudi nationals.
I doubt that many people would object to the universally accepted principle of restricting certain trades to citizens of the country. After all, it is the primary duty of any government to assist its citizens in finding employment opportunities. At the same time, the objections most likely to come up in the present case will be pertaining to issues related to organizing and training the Saudi taxi drivers to discharge their duties in a satisfactory manner. I believe there would be no difficulty in organizing and regulating the profession in a scientific and pragmatic manner. The real test will be training and equipping Saudis to take up this challenging profession. The matter becomes more difficult because there is a mistaken idea held by the public that the only qualification for becoming a taxi driver is a valid driving license. The drivers themselves are also at fault since they too believe that being a taxi driver requires no special training. This is totally wrong. Taxi drivers interact directly with the public and need to be taught how to do so. The truth is that every profession — from nuclear researcher to street cleaner — requires specialized training.
Our taxi drivers take their jobs very lightly. They don’t have a map so they can find the unknown spot where the customer wants to go. They don’t have to pass a test to prove their ability to drive safely. The lack of training and the absence of proper understanding of their duties lead to chaos and confusion for the tens of thousands of people on the road. These confused people associate all their difficulties most illogically with the idea of Saudization.
An idea should not be implemented from the top without preparing the ground for it. There is no alternative to months-long training for the thousands of Saudi aspirants to the taxi driver’s trade. They should also pass some serious practical and theoretical examinations before they are issued a work permit. The implementation of any Saudization scheme should be preceded by a thorough study of its impact and other consequences so that the negative consequences can be identified and corrected before putting it into practice. The Saudi public’s unwillingness to employ their fellow Saudis is a serious matter. It is not because the public does not want its people to work. It is because people know that the local youths are not properly trained and so are not prepared for most jobs. This sad fact can be seen in several trades in which Saudi youths are presently working. In order to make things run smoothly, the government should shoulder the cost of the new employment training schemes.
