Saudization of Technical Jobs: Expats Doubtful of Success

Saudization of Technical Jobs: Expats Doubtful of Success Javid Hassan, Arab News Staff

RIYADH, 27 October 2003 — Expatriate workers from the subcontinent in the Hayyel Wuzarat district here say Saudization of technical jobs will succeed in numbers but not in substance. Popularly known as Hara, the area is dominated by largely working class Bangladeshis, Indians and Pakistanis. Saudis by and large avoid the area and Saudi women rarely shop here, partly because it is a favorite haunt of expatriate bargain hunters. The large number of expatriates in front of tea shops and restaurants or sitting on the parapet along the road discourages women from coming to the area. Recently the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs said it will Saudize 25 job categories — from the sale of clothes, toys, abayas and perfume to cellular phones and car spares. Under the new regulations, the salesman in stores with a single employee must be Saudi, while in shops with two employees, at least one should be a Saudi. In the second year, 50 percent of the work force in such businesses should be Saudis, reaching 75 percent in the third year. But Masood Ahmad, a Bangladeshi worker, says Saudization of the lower rungs of the ladder is not feasible. He told Arab News that technical jobs available with private firms pay so little that Saudis will not accept them. Even if they do, he asked, are they willing to take orders from a supervisor who is invariably an expatriate? “We work anything from eight to 10 hours or more depending on the situation.” He said the only case where Saudization has apparently succeeded is when Saudi companies have been subcontracted by a government organization and the contract stipulates that the Saudi firm will increase its Saudi work force regularly by five percent every year. Muneer, a Pakistani, came here on an open visa after paying the equivalent of SR8,000. After a one-year search, he finally landed the job of an electrician. “It has been more than eight years and still I haven’t been home. My passport is with my sponsor, and he won’t give it to me. I am not getting my salary regularly. This has forced me to borrow from my friends and acquaintances. Given all that, how do you expect my Saudi sponsor to hire a Saudi and pay him SR1,500 instead of the SR800 that is supposed to be my salary,” he said. Alam, a Bangladeshi, says that before he came to Saudi Arabia 14 years ago, he worked as an electrician in Greece and earlier in Malaysia and Singapore. “I had to leave jobs in all three countries when my employers ran out of new contracts. But I never had any problem with them so long as I was in their service. I got my salary and all other promised benefits without having to remind them. Here, the situation is horrible. I have not been home for the last 14 years, because I have no work, no money, and no passport. My Iqama lapsed long ago and I am now illegal.” He earns his livelihood by cleaning cars.