ANEWS report about the huge remittances made by expatriates in the Kingdom over 10 years totaling SR616 billion went unnoticed as if it was a news story about the donation of blankets to some disaster-stricken foreign country.
The amount, which included SR23 billion during 2009 alone, was really frightening. It dared me to ask: does our well cultured minister of labor, Ghazi Al-Gosaibi, still have the urge to write poetry, narrate stories or crack jokes after reading this?
Myself and others like me have lost interest in poetry or stories. We are unable to smile at jokes while reading figures that reflect a huge tilt in the balance of labor and its impact on society and the economy.
A small society like ours cannot be leading the rest of the world in foreign remittances, surpassing societies who are double its size in population and economy.
This can only be possible when there is something wrong in the lopsided labor market.
We gave priority to Saudizing the vegetable markets while our university graduates were unable to compete with foreigners in jobs that do not require superb qualities or qualifications that can only be obtained from the moon.
The time has come to deal seriously with the labor questions.
The task of the Labor Ministry is not just to administer the contractual relationship between the employee and the employer but drawing clear-cut lines for the work arena in the interests of Saudi citizens and the homeland.([email protected])
