JEDDAH, 5 May 2005 — A most unscientific trawl through the Classifieds in last Friday’s paper revealed some interesting trends. Out of 35 advertisements for employees — some with more than one position available — 40 percent specified applicants with transferable iqamas, six percent asked specifically for Filipinos, 60 percent were non-specific and three percent specified Saudis only.
Some of the jobs advertised were for highly qualified and experienced specialists, much as any “situations vacant” column might contain. Most, however, were not.
Middle-range semi-skilled and unskilled jobs — insulators, painters, traveling salesmen, truck drivers which are the unglamorous yet vital jobs that support the infrastructure of any developing industrial society — specified transferable iqamas. In other words, 40 percent of advertisers were indirectly saying “non-Saudis preferred.” Fifty percent of the advertisers were non-specific — although nearly all asked for a CV and experience. Only one specifically stated “Saudi nationals preferred” — but then tacked on transferable iqama for other applicants.
Many of the vacancies were in the “unskilled” category. Laborers, cleaners, sandwich- and coffee-makers and a “specialist juice-maker” — are not the kind of jobs that require a long training period. So why do the applicants need transferable iqamas?
The obvious answer is that they are expatriate workers and, even with seven million or so in Saudi Arabia, there is a shortage of them to the extent that employers are advertising to attract them. Another answer is that there are very few Saudis looking for semi-skilled and unskilled jobs, even though unemployment is reported among Saudi men as anything between eight and 20 percent — depending on whom you believe.
Is the idea of taking a humble job and earning some kind of a living so objectionable to a young Saudi who enters the job market with only a school leaver’s qualification? Or is it that his level of qualification is not enough to get a job as a cleaner, laborer or “specialist juice-maker?” Why is it that employers, advertising even these relatively humble jobs, prefer expatriate labor?
There are around seven million expatriate workers in the Kingdom. Following the labor minister’s declared intent of reducing the number by 100,000 a year to make space for the new generation of Saudis to be employed, it will be 70 years before they are all gone. That of course assumes that none will be replaced.
Assuming a birthrate of four percent and about half of that number female, then there are some 250,000 potential new male jobseekers being born this year alone, a number that will surely rise as the population increases.
What kind of dream is being retailed to these jobseekers of tomorrow? Management, information technology, engineering? These are for the few and the well- qualified. But are there enough potential candidates being turned out to fill these relatively few positions? It seems not.
One global company with a manufacturing plant in the Kingdom went to extremes to get engineering graduates into its training scheme by head-hunting from colleges, because the candidates applying direct were simply not qualified in the most basic engineering skills. Another prominent manufacturer has openly stated that he would “Saudize tomorrow” if he could get local staff properly trained in management and engineering. He cannot.
Surely though the less glamorous but essential jobs in the Saudi economy can be filled from the ranks of young Saudis pouring out of colleges and schools? Consider this: If, for reasons of lack of availability or skills, you have to advertise for an expatriate to take up an unskilled position as a juice-maker, perhaps the relevance of what is being taught in schools needs a very serious and immediate review and the ambitions of jobseekers brought to bear on the reality of the job market. Declining gainful employment in the hope of securing the “management gold pen” and leaving the less glamorous jobs to expatriates is fast becoming an expense that the Kingdom will soon no longer be able to bear.
