JEDDAH, 10 January 2003 — Sary Nazmi, 22, joined a restaurant in one of this city’s prominent malls last year as a food service worker.

His job description included waiting tables, mopping the floor and preparing food. He was also responsible for cleaning the grills and washing the kitchen after the restaurant had closed.

Nazmi is a Saudi, and he was doing the kind of work which, until very recently, almost all Saudis considered beneath them. His salary was SR1,900 a month.

Fahad Al-Ghamdi, 26, is a Saudi taxi driver. In the morning, he teaches elementary science to children in one of Jeddah’s public schools for a monthly salary of SR5,000. His classes start a 7 a.m. and end at 1 p.m. He then takes to his taxi, and on average makes an additional SR3,500 a month from that job.

“First, I had to get a driver’s license from the Traffic Department,” Al-Ghamdi told Arab News. “I had to insure my driver’s license with a higher premium than the regular insurance. Finally, I had to decide if I wanted to be self-employed or employed by a company.”

Both of these last options have their merits, he added, but “if you choose to be self-employed, all of the above costs are going to be self-incurred. In addition, you will have to buy your own taximeter. All that will set you back about SR5,000.”

The government recently announced that the taxi sector is to be Saudized completely within two years, and so there are likely to be many more drivers like Al-Ghamdi on the road in the near future. There are presently an estimated 45,000 taxi drivers in the Kingdom, only a small number of whom are Saudis.

With the Kingdom’s population rate of 3.3 percent, one of the highest in the world, the result is a society in which the under-15s make up 42.4 percent of the population. With unemployment on the rise, Saudization is set to remain a key government policy.

The booming local retail industry has created many job openings for Saudis and it is now common to walk into a retail outlet and be greeted by a bilingual Saudi assistant.

Emad Nasir, 25, started working at Al-Baroom shopping center here three years after graduating from high school. Nasir is also enrolled in night classes at a local college. He makes about SR3,500 a month.

Ali Mubarak Al-Zubaidy, 20, has been a Saudi security guard for four months. He recently moved out of his parent’s home as his salary of SR1,800 allows him to rent a one-bedroom studio. He is trying to complete his high school education but finds that his 12-hour work shift is getting in the way.

However, his job gives him the benefit of health insurance and a clothing allowance.

“Working as a security guard is an easy task,” he says. “I’ll be promoted in eight months, then I’ll get a month’s vacation.”

Until then, Zubaidy will be working seven days a week.

Back in the shopping mall restaurant, Sary Namzi has been promoted to assistant manager trainee and is now working a 60-hour week for SR5,400. In addition to working full time, he is studying at King Abdul Aziz University for a degree in business administration.

Nazmi recalls that his parents were very reluctant to see him take a job in the service industry. And his clients were even more uncomfortable when they found that it was a Saudi who was waiting on them.

But his friends were supportive, as they were facing similar situations in their own lives.

Indeed, with more and more of his friends taking up jobs that were once deemed fit only for an immigrant labor force, Nazmi no longer feels that he was doing something out of the ordinary.