The decision by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah to increase public sector salaries and pensions by 15 percent has been welcomed by the entire country. Obviously it delights the more than a third of the labor force, mainly Saudis, who work in one way or another for the government — the police, the military, government and municipal officials and employees, teachers, doctors, nurses, and so many more — and pensioners too, who have not seen their incomes rise for several years but have had to live with quietly increasing prices; the king’s move has also been greeted with delight by the private sector — hoping of course that employers will heed the appeal by Labor Minister Ghazi Al-Gosaibi that they follow the king’s lead and be generous as well. There is reason for them to be so. The economy from which they are prime beneficiaries is performing extremely well, thanks in no small part to high oil prices. These show no sign of any significant drop in the foreseeable future; we live in a new oil boom.
In addition to this, the 15 percent public sector increase will boost the economy even more. There is going to be a great deal more spending in shops and on services. The only concern must be that the increase does not spark inflation. A close eye will also need to be kept by officials to ensure that no one tries to take advantage of the increase by hiking prices unnecessarily. Saudi Arabia can, of course, well afford the increase in public sector salaries thanks to the oil prices; government income exceeds expenditure far beyond what was budgeted last December. But what marks the king’s generosity is his special concern for those who are least well-off in Saudi Arabia. The decision to increase pensions as well as salaries, to pay an extra month’s salary to the lowest paid state employees, to specifically exclude ministers and senior officials from the changes, and the labor minister’s appeal to the private sector, when following suit to pay particular attention to the lowest paid, reflects the king’s well-known concern for the poorest in the country — a concern that has been seen over the years, most dramatically in his visits to the most impoverished areas of Jeddah and Riyadh.
In any society, it is all too often the lowest paid, the pensioners and the unemployed who get left behind or passed over when largesse is being handed out. In reaching out in this particular way, King Abdullah clearly understands the conditions and needs of those Saudis for whom there has been no economic boom, for whom life is a constant struggle. His has always been a vision of a just society, in harmony with itself, a vision that is focused as much on economic and social harmony as it is on political harmony. In that sense, the salary increases follow on naturally from the earlier royal amnesties, themselves an attempt to reach out and promote political harmony and consensus. Both are part and parcel of the same vision. The hope must be that the private sector follows the king’s lead, and that everyone working in the Kingdom, not only Saudis, will benefit. There will be good reasons why some private companies cannot — but they must be the rare exception rather than the rule.
