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| Arabia |
| Saudis to deport more foreigners |
| 2003-02-04 |
| From Pravda, read at your own risk. Those who planned to go to Saudi Arabia in search of a job will have to change the intentions. The Saudi Government is very much anxious about the increasing number of foreign workers in the country, that is why it is decided to reduce the number of foreigners living there by 10%. Unemployment level in the kingdom is currently high enough and makes up 9%. But the madrassas are so full! The Saudi authorities hope that when the number of foreigners working in the country is reduced, citizens of the country will get more work places. What is more, if official calculations are taken into consideration, the government plans to create an artificial manpower deficit. Isn’t the logic familiar to you? Er, no. At present, there are 7 million foreigners living and working in Saudi Arabia, they make up approximately two thirds of the kingdom’s manpower. It means that Saudis won’t do without these workers. And such is the situation in the country outlining against the background of harsh restrictions introduced there for foreign workers. For instance, foreigners are prohibited to work as taxi drivers and men under 40 are not allowed to sell ladies’ jewelry. What? I've heard of some pretty asinine work rules before, especially for city workers, but this is silly. Recently complaints of Saudis have become intensified: wages in Saudi Arabia used to be the world highest till recently, but now they are steadily reducing. For instance, annual income of a Saudi citizen made up 20 thousand dollars approximately in the early 1990s, but now it makes up not more than 7 thousand dollars. That's pretty much what happens when the only thing you have to sell is oil and dates, and the prices for both are down. At that, unemployment level is increasing even among the youth, the most economically active part of the population. Dozens, if not thousands of graduates from institutes of higher education cannot find professionally adequate jobs after graduation. Perhaps if they developed a technical and business curriculum in these universities ... But worsening of the living standard is not the only problem in Saudi Arabia. The main problem of the Saudi government (and the 9/11 events revealed the problem is pressing for other governments of the world as well) is that popularity of extremist organizations is increasing. Young people who fail to find jobs are easy preys for leaders of radical organizations who blame the government for kow-towing the West, for betrayal of Moslems and certainly for the increasing number of foreigners in the country. Many experts have been saying long ago already that the ruling dynasty must take some measures to reduce the tension in Saudi Arabia. For the time being, the government has no notion what measures can be done in this situation. I'm getting scared. I pretty much agreed with this whole paragraph. On the one hand, Saudis acutely react to accusations blaming the country for sponsoring terrorism (for instance, when it was declared that Saudi Arabia closed accounts in American banks). On the other hand, Saudis don’t dare to publicly declare their intention to fight against extremist organizations. In fact, the government is actually fighting against such organizations, but it is done secretly and On the whole, there is only one solution to the problem suggested: Freedom, human rights, rule of law, respect for women, and prosecuting the klepto princes? it is believed that reduction in the number of foreigners working in the country may be an effective way out. By the way, the process is to take much time – it will last till 2012. The government of Saudi Arabia promised that private capital will have an access to such branches as communications, transport, education, power industry, insurance business and the press. And foreign workers from poor Asiatic countries coming to Saudi Arabia in search of a job will be deported from the country. In other words, the Soddis haven't a clue. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #11 Why recognize the sovereignty of the Saud entity? These savages do not believe in universal notions of international law, because these conflict with sharia. The civilized world should defend the former by treating the Wahabi entity as an outlaw, and occupy them. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-02-04 20:42:05 |
| #10 Good point regarding population growth and average income. In a normal country, GDP rises with population and with productivity, so there is no problem -- per capita GDP usually goes up. However, when your economy is based on sitting on your butts while a bunch of foreigners extract oil and hand you a check, doubling of population halves per capita GDP. The population of the Saudi royal family is growing even faster. The math just isn't going to work out for long. |
| Posted by: JAB 2003-02-04 15:29:34 |
| #9 I look forward to the day that Saudi Arabians are exported to work as servants in the homes of rich Filipinos and SE Asians. |
| Posted by: Bellicose Woman 2003-02-04 14:41:25 |
| #8 so, so... the job offer to sell ladies jewelry wasn't legit? Damn! I so wanted to get into the baubles, bangles and beads business. |
| Posted by: Chuck 2003-02-04 13:55:19 |
| #7 I read 2(?)years ago that the Saudis required all foreigner workers for Saudi to have checking accounts. Too many were sending too much money out of the country. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-02-04 11:13:46 |
| #6 One factor not mentioned is the population growth rate of 3.27% (http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/sa.html#People) which means the population is doubling every 22 years. That has a lot to do with the decline in average income. |
| Posted by: A 2003-02-04 10:50:41 |
| #5 The House of Saud, like Pakistan, is morally bankrupt. The only difference is that the Saudis have money and the Paks don't. To survive, the Saudis need to reform and adapt to the new conditions in the world. Reform at this scale takes time and commitment. The Saudis will not commit to either, so they are goin' down. When Saudis go down, a bunch of the terrorist organizations are going to dry up, too, including the Paks. It won't be pretty but alot of things will be straightened out in a heavy duty way. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-02-04 10:33:53 |
| #4 The Saudis don't want to denigrate themselves to have to do the only work most of them are fit to do: manual labor and service sector jobs. They somehow feel that due to the mineral wealth they were lucky enough to born atop they shouldn't have to learn skills and education outside the Quran. A rude awakening is coming to them - they will not survive as a royal theocracy when it hits the fan, and the populace outside the royal family doesn't know how to earn a decent wage without the oil welfare. Yikes |
| Posted by: Frank G 2003-02-04 09:16:56 |
| #3 "It's all BECAUSE of oil!" |
| Posted by: Ptah 2003-02-04 03:21:01 |
| #2 There's no one in the house of Saud with a degree in economics? whats up with that... |
| Posted by: Rw 2003-02-04 02:21:20 |
| #1 One factor not mentioned is the population growth rate of 3.27% (http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/sa.html#People) which means the population is doubling every 22 years. That has a lot to do with the decline in average income. |
| Posted by: A 2/4/2003 10:50:41 AM |