RIYADH, 2 January 2005 — The Kingdom entered the New Year yesterday amid security concerns that have already caused some Western and other expatriates to return home. Together with the pressure of Saudization, a growing number of vacancies are opening up in the oil and gas, health, IT and construction sectors creating opportunities and challenges ahead.
According to Sandy Robertson, senior executive of a specialist accountancy firm, New Year prospects for British expatriates in Saudi Arabia look uncertain. He notes that the future of thousands of “professionals in the Kingdom’s oil industry is coming under the spotlight.”
He says “although personal safety is always the paramount concern, the financial problems faced by Saudi-based workers caught up in the crisis could continue long after they return to the UK.” As for those who remain, Robertson points out, “it is likely that existing policies for insurance against injury or death will no longer be adequate and that additional cover or a separate policy will be required. If the risk of attack or personal injury is perceived to be high, then the increased premiums may be prohibitive.”
Speaking on behalf of Insurance Hospital, Muhammad H. Al-Ruwitea, manpower director, said their hospital will organize a one-day nursing recruitment fair on Jan. 13. It is the second recruitment drive that the hospital has launched within two months to replace nurses who have left for greener pastures in the West.
In this context, Saifudeen Thassim, a senior banking executive, told Arab News that security concerns in the Kingdom have created a tricky situation for the health care industry.
“One way to encourage Western expats to stay in the Kingdom is to increase their pay, which is already much higher than that of their counterparts from South and Southeast Asia. But if they do that, it will increase the cost of health care services which in the end could turn out to be counter-productive for the hospital itself.”
He said the banking sector was also coming under pressure with a major bank scheduled to open in the UAE trying to poach skilled personnel from various banking fields.
The situation has been further compounded by the launch of major projects in the Gulf, which are concentrating on the Saudi market to lure expats with the prospects of higher pay and perks. Aware of the employers’ concerns in this regard, the Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF) has created the post of IT project manager to develop a cadre of trained and qualified Saudis who could fill in slots in the private sector, Abdul Kareem A. Al-Khreiji of HRDF told Arab News. He said their tie-up with a major IT firm was intended to hone professional skills of Saudis in this area.
According to Shaukat Naim Ghumman, marketing manager at the Al-Babtain Group, another sector that is expected to come under mounting pressure this year is the construction sector, currently benefiting from the oil boom. He said research studies indicate that the Kingdom would need four to five million housing units by 2020 to meet the growing demand. An investment of around SR117 billion would be required to cope with the housing shortage.
He pointed out that since most of the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are involved in the construction sector, they face a ticklish situation with a majority of their work force being expatriates. The Ministry of Labor will not grant them visas if the jobs for which they are required could be filled in by Saudis. Thus the SMEs, already saddled with a host of problems, could face a new pressure after two months when they will no longer be at liberty to hire expats at will, he added.
