SALEH Mohammad is a 25-year-old Saudi high school dropout earning an average of SR7,000 a month.
In addition to his native Arabic, he speaks basic Urdu, Farsi and Indonesian. His profession? A handyman.
Essam Rashad, on the other hand, has an honors degree in political science, but who at the age of 25 is still on a monthly allowance from his father. He can get by with his English. His predicament? He is unemployed.
New data released by the General Statistics and Information Development Department (GSID) recently published in a Saudi daily showed that the total work force in the Kingdom numbers 8,454,948. The available Saudi work force available is 4,173, 019, with the total number of working Saudis 3,756, 669 and 416,350 unemployed Saudis. What determines the professional fate of Saudis, such as the case of Saleh and Essam — an independent high school dropout who is self-employed and a university-educated dependent who is still looking for work? What are the factors that shape one’s success and another’s failure?
An Arab News survey that included Saudi employers, employees, university students and job seekers revealed an unanimous opinion on what is mostly affecting the employment or unemployment of an individual: The quality of education and knowledge of the job market’s requirements. Ninety-seven percent of participants among university students, employees and job seekers attributed the difficulty of finding a job due to “employment requirements”.
In fact, the survey showed that only nine percent based their professional and education-related decisions on the requirements of the job market. Only 3 percent were working in the same profession they trained or were educated in. The survey also showed that 90 percent of Saudi employers, such as businessmen, employment agencies and HR professionals attributed unsatisfactory competency issues of young Saudis to “inadequate education”. Ninety-three percent attributed this incompetence to poor work attitudes and work ethics. Whether it is a matter of employment problems and obstacles, or issues related to unprofessional conduct, many traced the deficiencies to the unsatisfactory standard of education in the country.
Education in the Kingdom is viewed as distant from personal and professional development, much needed for the job market. “The methodologies, approaches, and emphasis in our education system have to change if we’re to act responsibly toward the country’s future generations,” said Nahed Abulaziz, the principal of a local private school. “There is still too much emphasis on grades and recitation methods. So it’s still more about a student’s memory than working the mind — more about theory than practice. So much is redundant and totally irrelevant to life after school. What about personality development?”
Education is expected to be a source of direction and a culture of progress, paving a solid foundation for the professional development of young Saudis, according to parents, students, educators and academics.
“Parents and students are always asking me for advice about what to study at the university, what to be in the future,” said Zuhair Ahmad, a vice principal of a local public school for boys. “Sometimes if I’m familiar with the student I can offer some ideas but it’s based on my personal opinion. I don’t have any solid information about the best jobs in the market.”
Others referred to methods taught in international schools. “In Western schools overseas, the first thing you do when you start high school is sit down with a guidance counselor,” said Summer Abdulghafour, a concerned mother of four. “The counselor will ask you all sorts of questions about your interests and what you want to be in the future. Then they’ll structure the school structure around the student’s responses so that they can accommodate everything with the hours required for graduation.” “My husband is Saudi and my children are all enrolled in local schools,” she added. “How are they going to be ready for the professional world without the advantage I had of counseling that continues throughout high school?” The deficiency of education in the Kingdom as well as the need of coordination between the output of educational institutions and the requirements of the job market is no recent revelation or novelty. Ahmad Abdullah, an academic lecturer at one of the local universities, refers to studies published by the International Labor Organization and the World Bank in the late 1990s. “It was suggested that our education system was deteriorating and failing to properly prepare men and women for future jobs.”
In fact, in a report prepared by the Permanent Mission of Saudi Arabia to the United Nations, and published on their website — last updated in 2000 — it was stated that “the lack of adequate, regular labor market information has reduced the awareness of students and job-seekers about available job opportunities and their location, prevailing wage rates, and conditions of employment, all of which would help achieve a better match between demand and supply.”
“Our education is very limited,” said Adel Abdulrahman, a Saudi HR consultant. “It doesn’t produce individuals who can think for themselves and act accordingly. Beyond schoolbooks and school walls, they graduate totally unprepared for the next step, whether it’s higher education or working. They have no idea what’s out there.” Be it the standard of education or scarcity of labor market information, many young Saudis — students or job-seekers — are bearing the brunt of the mismatch.
Halah Saud is a 26-year-old Saudi microbiology graduate. After spending more than a year searching for a job, she gave up and got herself a scholarship to Canada with the intention of studying something “totally different and workable.”
“I studied microbiology because I was interested in it,” said Halah. “After graduation, I ended up in a private local hospital, in the lab with specimens. I quit after a couple of months. Had anyone told me that this is the fate of a microbiology student, I would’ve studied something else.”
One university graduate, Hiba Nabeel, 24, said one of the administrators on campus told her after graduation to “take your degree, tear it up and throw it in the garbage. There are no jobs for you out there.” “Why didn’t anyone say so before?” she said.
Labor Minister Ghazi Al-Gosaibi asked a similar and relevant question when he met with a number of local chief editors as reported in a local newspaper in 2007. “I ask the university educational system, why the insistence on specializations the market does not want?” said Al-Gosaibi. “I cannot change society’s mentality or its educational institutions.” Accommodating the job market calls for a diverse professional culture, in which education again plays a key role. Social norms still affect the collective opinion about various occupations. As such the re-evaluation of the education system is dire for this aspect to change, thus achieving maximum work force capabilities.
“Students must be provided with professional knowledge from the earliest stages of education and training,” said Ahmad Abdulmajeed, an employee at one of the technical and industrial institutions. He also stated that education institutions should aim at establishing a healthy attitude toward working and various occupations. He added: “The attitude of young Saudis needs to change about working in general and about the negative impression and condescending view toward manual and technical jobs.”
“If our education system steered young minds toward mature thinking and away from narrow mentalities, our unemployment wouldn’t be this high,” said Fahd Ahmad, a medical engineer at one of the private hospitals. “Many of my family members stopped or limited communication with me because I once worked as a clerk — for the sake of gaining some experience,” he added.
“We need to change our attitudes. If a person needs a job, he or she should go after any job available even if it doesn’t meet the expectation imposed by society. And once he or she lands a job, they need to be serious and committed.”
Local employment agencies find the attitude and expectations of Saudi job-seekers to be “removed from reality”.
“I’m not surprised that 93 percent of employers found fault with the work attitude of employees and job-seekers,” said Talal Hamad, an advisor at one of the local employment agencies. “They’re not even punctual for their job interviews. Others simply up and leave jobs after having consented and given a commitment. It places us in such awkward positions with the companies we deal with.”
"Sixty percent of applicants aren't punctual," adds Faisal Abdullah, who also works at an employment agency. "When they get a job, 30 percent don't continue. And when they first approach us, all they ask is about the salaries and the working hours. They don't even bother to ask about the job itself or its requirements." If the standard of education continues as is, without altering the attitude and generating awareness among young Saudis, the quality of the labor force will remain compromised.
"Ignorance regarding the work culture means leaner job opportunities for Saudis," Suliman Hamad, an HR consultant. "The reality is that the educational system is not preparing Saudis for the occupational needs of the Kingdom's economy. It is this lack of appropriate occupational education that is creating the need for foreign employees in Saudi Arabia."
In the meantime the likes of Essam continue to feel justified in blaming his situation on the country's labor and education system. "I was told to get an university degree so I got one," said Essam sipping his latte at one of the local modern cafes. "I've tried one or two jobs since I graduated- one through an uncle and the other our neighbor. But eight hours daily and six days a week, after all my years of studying and for what? Four thousand riyals a month? No, I'll wait for other options."
"Where are the jobs? Where is all the Saudization?" said Essam, his eyebrows arching in protest. "They want Saudis. Here I am." And the rare minority like Saleh goes forward.
"I've been working since I was 11 years old as a delivery boy for our neighborhood baqala (mini-market) in Makkah," said Saleh, as his stained rough-looking hands fidgeting through his toolbox while leaning against an old small truck. "I was earning SR25 a week, sometimes more during Umra and Haj seasons- which is how I learned languages I know. Abu Hasan, the owner of the 'baqala' would give a SR50 bonus for the delivery boy whose job was the cleanest and the quickest, meaning going to or coming from a customer directly without breaking or losing anything of the groceries. By the time I was 15, I was taking care of the cashier." He added, "Being the quickest and the cleanest also got me more and better tips."
"A few years later, when I saw how the non-Saudis - the Somalis, the Yemenis, etc. - were making money as handymen and I said to myself - why not?"
Placing the toolbox in the back of the truck Saleh added: "It's easy. I promise and I deliver. When I give a customer a time, I'm there on time. I transport furniture, assemble it even give it a clean wipe once I'm done. When I need to, I'll even sweep the surrounding floor if I've done any drilling. I get paid on the spot, earn good tips and win customers over. What do I need a college degree for?" jokes Saleh. "I'm already a graduate . . . from the university called life!".