It is very hard for us as a society to proceed down a long road only to realize in the end that we took the wrong route, and that the road will not take us to the desired destination. A problem arises when the people providing the direction don’t take into consideration the desire and ambitions of the younger generation that is expected to carry on the load.
In order to clear the path, we have to consider the opinions of the youth, especially when it is them that is most affected by the decisions. We decided to travel down this challenging road only to find out that the results are not what we expected because we were thinking on behalf of the younger generation.
The road that I am talking about here is Saudization, which was portrayed as the hope of unemployed people in our society. Many thought that Saudization would solve the unemployment problem. After all, Saudization of jobs is a noble goal. However, the way that the goal is being achieved is wrong.
The method by which Saudization is being carried out by the government is not precise. After years of implementing Saudization, our target goals have not been achieved. We need to seriously review our progress.
I have had three experiences recently that help illustrate some problems with Saudization.
The first was when Makkah Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chairman Adel Kaaki said to me that companies and institutions are helping to drive Saudis away from the public sector. He said that 67 percent of Saudis leave their jobs because they complain of low salaries and long hours.
Secondly, Consultancy Center for Finance and Investment Chairman Abdul Aziz Al-Dakheel flatly said to me that that Saudization alone would not solve the unemployment problem.
The third case is what one of my students told me: We drive the men of our rich country toward low-paying jobs. He said that we should leave these jobs to foreigners because they will accept low wages.
We are facing a severe crisis that is harming both the private sector and Saudi youth, which is refusing the government solution to replace foreigners with Saudis. Those who are accepting this solution do it only for a short period of time because of financial reasons.
The government must come up with better solutions to solve the unemployment problem. The solution may include looking to government sectors that have a shortage of employees, or public sector jobs in fields such as monitoring food-production; officials in this area are openly complaining about a shortage of workers, because the number of workers has not changed in a long time.
Therefore, I see that more jobs exist and the unemployment problem can be solved partly by reviewing the laws and regulations for hiring Saudis for public-sector jobs.
