While the Kingdom is moving towards Saudization, the private sector will faces many challenges to be able to replace expats with Saudis and be able to change the Saudi labor market.
With thousands of Nitaqat hit expatriate workers preferring to leave the Saudi Arabia, a lot of unskilled jobs, such as cleaners, plumbers, construction workers, electricians, etc were predominantly occupied by expatriates from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Philippines, will be up for grabs by Saudis according to an Arab News report published on Tuesday.
But.. But… But the million dollar question is, can the Saudis dare enough to take up these unskilled jobs?
According to the famous perception that Saudis do not want to take up unskilled jobs and they only want to be managers with a massive office with designer desk and multiline telephone. They act the way they want, they come late to work and be absent most of the times, give very few hours for work.
Now, when tens of thousands of Nitaqat hit workers have registered with their consulates over the past 30 days and an estimated 60,000 Indians, 6,000 Pakistanis, nearly 10,000 Filipinos, 7,000 Sri Lankans and other nationalities have sought permission to leave Saudi Arabia, who will grab these jobs?
Many reports suggests that since the Nitaqat Saudization programme was imposed, some private companies tell newly hired Saudis, who have been appointed through the Saudization program, to stay at home and they would be paid their salary and only come to office when told.
According to Labour Minister Adel Fakeih, almost 86 percent of expatriate workers occupy mostly blue-collar jobs that “by nature are not suitable to Saudi Arabian citizens,” .
Saudi Arabia’s unemployment rate is estimated to be 12.2 percent of the local population, but the interesting fact is almost half of unemployed Saudi Arabians have never applied for a job, according to a study by the Gulf kingdom’s Ministry of Labour.