Saudiization

Hamad Altamami

WRC 1023

Professor: Michael Willard
2/20/2015

                                 Saudiization

The Saudi Arabia national government has implemented the Saudiization policy in a bid to increase the domestic taskforce in the country. The government has come up with new rules which prospective investors are compelled to follow. The tough conditions have brought about a couple of challenges as the Saudi Arabia government is bent on ensuring that the nationals take the majority stake in the companies established in the country. Saudiization has its set of challengers and economists are yet to unearth the socio-economic advantages that could possibly come about as an effect. The issue of whether Saudiization is necessary for the Saudi Arabia economy is one to ponder upon.

No particular country is self-sufficient. Trying to increase the Saudi nationals in the labor market is a good move as it is bound to increase the country’s GDP level; however, the foreign workers may bring with them a wealth of knowledge which the locals could be lacking (Cordesman, 224 ). Hiring less foreign workers may actually bring a strain on the government trying to instill skills necessary for the workplace. A blend of different cultures and experience is important for harmony of the work place. The productivity brought by the foreign workers may actually be more that when the only people working in the industries are the local civilians.

There have been rising cases of fake Saudiization which turns out to be more costly for the industries with a lower productivity level. In a bid for the investors to comply with the regulation put in place, they pay the commoners some monthly stipend to act like they are employed by the firms. Some of these paid natives blackmail the investors with higher salary demand at the end of the month for the act. The consequence of the fake saudiization is that in increased laziness among the youths as they get paid for doing nothing as affirmed by Gazette para (7). Even if the government tried so hard to ensure that only the locals are employed, they are not well equipped. The youths in Saudi Arabia do not put any effort to increase their skills.

Some of the skills needed in the taskforce are technical and it takes time to learn them. Not only is it expensive for the Saudi Arabia government to train the locals to have particular desired skills but it is also time consuming. It is much easier and cheaper getting the expatriates to do the jobs (Ramady, 368). Some professions like medicine, engineering and aviation take time to learn and it needs a wealth of experience to be a master of the game. When it comes to medicine for example, the government cannot risk having half-baked graduates as it would be disastrous for the economy. In this regard, the foreign workers are still a building block for the Saudi Arabia economy.

There have been a crack-down on the travel agencies and this has witnessed cases of mistreatment of the foreign workers employed there. The foreigners are sent to police custodies and later deported; the disadvantage of this is that it reflects negatively on the outside world. There have also been rising cases of terrorism aimed at the foreign workers prompting them to escape from Saudi Arabia. The move to push out the foreigners may prompt the other countries to boycott Saudi Arabia products because of the mistreatment directed at their citizens and this will again lower the country’s Gross domestic Product.

With the policy for Saudiization set up, less people are willing to open up businesses due to the new strict regulations in place. The government insists on investors to issue saudiization certificates when they require the renewal of their licenses which is costly. More young people are unwilling to work for the local companies due to the poor pay or lack of the right skills. On the contrary, more foreigners are willing to work for the firms for an even lower pay. The demand made by the national government have made many prospective employers shy away from investing and some even closing up their businesses as it has proved to be expensive for them to be in operation(Ramady,370).