Never before have young Saudis had so many educational opportunities open to them, from the level of vocational training through to advanced degrees and postgraduate work in world-class institutions such as KAUST.
Moreover, as the Saudization program advances, there is an ever-decreasing chance that these young people are going to emerge with their qualifications and find that there is no work for them. A society that has turned to expatriate workers to fill jobs that could very easily be undertaken by Saudis, has realized the real cost of such dependence. Saudi workers may be more expensive in terms of their take-home pay and their entitlements, but there has always been a hidden price to the use of expatriates.
That cost has been societal. Over and above the need for financial support via families and government grants, there is the real penalty in terms of pride and a sense of worth. A man without a job in a busy city, is all too often prey to feelings of inadequacy, even despair. In every society of course, there is a minority of people who are happy to avoid hard work and sponge off others, but this is no more apparent here in the Kingdom than elsewhere.
There does however seem to be something wrong with the Saudi labor market, which might be characterized as a mismatch of expectations. This is illustrated quite starkly by the problems that have been encountered by the General Syndicate of Cars in Makkah, in the search of its 18 member firms to fill 20,000 jobs in the transport sector dealing with pilgrims. The Syndicate is saying that it simply cannot find enough Saudis prepared to take on the work. It has therefore asked the Ministry of Labor for special permission to once more hire expats for the work.
It seems that less than a thousand locals have applied, despite good pay and generous incentives, which include a housing allowance. What has gone wrong here? It cannot be that there are not enough Saudis in Makkah who are currently without work and are qualified to undertake this employment in transportation.
The General Syndicate would seem to offer part, but not all of the explanation. It says that the work is strenuous and demanding and requires good timekeeping. It also points out that shifts can last for 12 hours a day. It further suggests that training institutes and colleges of technology were partially to blame for the lack of people coming forward. It did not however specify, what it was that it thought that the education establishment was getting wrong.
What cannot be in doubt is that most colleges of technology and training institutes do a pretty good job of teaching their students the operational and technical side of the sectors in which they are planning to work. Some courses will inevitably be better than others, just as some students will be more committed than their fellows. But the core curricula, the often highly-advanced facilities that are available for training and the dedication of teachers cannot be in doubt.
Yet there seems to be an issue with the way in which those studying these courses are being motivated. There appears to be no proper focus on a work ethic, on how considerable satisfaction comes from doing a job well. There is no use pretending that every job is fascinating. Many involve repetitive, sometimes boring tasks. This is probably true of working in transportation at Makkah, driving coaches taking Umrah and Haj pilgrims through the congested traffic.
Yet however humdrum the nature of the employment, going the extra mile to do the job to the best of one’s abilities, gives satisfaction, both personally and to the people with whom that employee comes into contact.
It needs to be made clear to all those, mostly young Saudis who have turned down transportation jobs in Makkah, that they are throwing away an opportunity for far greater than a good income, with excellent incentives. They are also undermining their own futures, endangering their opportunities for a prosperous family life and — whether they realize it or not, damaging their self-esteem. They should have been made aware of these risks, along with the advantages of successful employment while they were going through technical education.
They should also have been made aware of the level of commitment and dedication that any reasonable employer will expect of his workers. Life owes no one a living. Too many young Saudis in Makkah, it seems, do not believe this. There is therefore a clear mismatch in expectations which technical colleges and training institutes should start to address, as a matter of urgency.
Editorial: A mismatch of expectations
