A recently published study recommended allowing expatriate workers to bring their families to live with them in the Kingdom. The idea seems to be that by bringing expatriates’ families here, the amount of hard currency sent abroad would be reduced. I don’t know if those who carried out the study conducted a thorough investigation to determine the advantages and disadvantages of such a proposal. The idea might have been feasible several years ago but at present, with rising unemployment among Saudis an increasingly serious problem, such a move would likely prove to be extremely difficult and perhaps even risky.
How many housing units would be needed to accommodate the families brought here? Wouldn’t this create confusion in the real estate market leading to a sharp increase in rents and pushing land prices up? What would become of poor Saudis who are not able to pay high rents? Would they find themselves thrown into the street? The newcomers would also require infrastructure services such as roads, water, and electricity. At present there are already six million expatriate workers living here and the available services are being stretched to the limit. This idea means we would have a foreign population of some 30 million, which would make Saudis a minority in their own country. It may be true that foreigners who have their families with them would spend more money but the pressure on services would be extremely high.
Let us be frank and logical about this. We would continue to have people living among us who come from a variety of religious and cultural backgrounds. This would help reduce social crimes but at the same time the country could risk losing its identity. Instead of wasting time and money on studies recommending more people from abroad being brought in, it would be much better if we focused on finding work for our unemployed young people. When 1,500 young Saudis — some from distant areas — respond to an announcement offering a single job, this surely indicates that our youth are serious about working and will not hesitate to look for jobs anywhere if work is available.
There have been calls for social institutions to undertake training young people to take up jobs. Some of these efforts have been going on for years, but without any tangible results. The reason is that employers are not enthusiastic about hiring people with no experience. At the same time, how can we expect someone just out of college or high school to have five years of work experience which these employers often insist on?
Arab News From the Local Press 11 June 2003
