Conventional wisdom has it that Saudis have no desire to work in the service industry and prefer to remain idle at home until that perfect government job comes along that allows them to work from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. then go home for a long nap.
Sorry, that doesn’t hold much water these days. It’s true that government jobs are the most coveted by Saudis, and if the private sector came beckoning, then the petrochemical industry would be a good choice. Saudi women, meanwhile, are gravitating toward education, the pharmaceutical industry and health care.
A recent survey found that 33 percent of Saudis polled preferred a government job, while 29 percent wanted a position in oil, gas and the petrochemical sector. About 26 percent preferred banking and finance. If this survey were conducted a decade ago, the gap between desiring a government position over a private industry job would have been much wider.
These private sector jobs demand a university degree, pay well and offer job security. The demands of these jobs may be greater than government work but the personal and professional rewards are far greater.
The changing attitude toward working in private industry is part and parcel to Saudis’ view of the service industry. A western blog on Saudi Arabia that purports some expertise on Saudi society said last week that Saudis still do not want anything to do with the service industry, particularly in food and retail. But that perception is terribly out of date.
As long as 10 years ago when I first arrived in Jeddah to live, I saw Saudis driving taxis and more than a few employed in fast-food restaurants. These were young guys, and women were still banned from the workplace. With each passing year, more and more young Saudi men found themselves working in some kind of service employment. Then about three years ago, Saudi employment in the sector exploded when women started working at supermarkets, lingerie shops, personal skincare and perfume businesses.
Today, about 16 percent of the retail sector’s 1.5 million employees are Saudis. It’s not a great number, but a leap from a decade ago.
Some how the sight of women working in retail as sales clerks slightly eased the stigma attached to such low-level jobs. To the low- and lower-middle-income families with young Saudi men with no university degree but who want a car and pocket money, retail employment doesn’t seem like a bad idea.
Today, it’s fairly common — at least in Jeddah — to see Saudi guys working alongside Saudi women in malls. In restaurants, especially the chains, some Saudi men are working as shift leaders or in some supervisorial capacity. In the high-end chain electronics stores, a large percentage of workers are Saudis.
This is not a sea change by any stretch of the imagination, but a gradual process in which a steady paycheck oftentimes takes precedence over one’s false sense of pride.
Hiring more Saudis to fill retail vacancies remain a tough road to hoe. Many employers remain reluctant; clinging to the old ways of keep expats on the payroll. There are few incentives to attract Saudi men to work in retail and the experience level is extremely low.
But the changing needs of Saudis in general and the Labor Ministry’s “get tough” policy on undocumented expats have opened the door wider for young Saudis to step through.
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