THE EFFECTS OF SAUDIZATION ON EMPLOYMENT IN SAUDI ARABIA FOR BOTH EXPATRIATES AND SAUDI CITIZENS
Table of Contents
Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………..
Rationale…………………………………………………………………………………………..
Research aims………………………………………………………………………………………
Methodology………………………………………………………………………………………
Literature review…………………………………………………………………………………..
The Concept of Saudization……………………………………………………………………….
Unemployment Crisis……………………………………………………………………………
Definition of Topic………………………………………………………………………………
Comparing Expatriate Workforce with Saudi National Workforce……………………………..
Hypothesis………………………………………………………………………………………..
Key Government Initiatives……………………………………………………………………...
Return Saudi Citizens to Majority of Workforce………………………………………………...
Original Plan of GOSI…………………………………………………………………………...
Saudis an Important Part of Workforce………………………………………………………….
Problems in Implementation……………………………………………………………………..
Expatriates………………………………………………………………………………………..
Multinationals……………………………………………………………………………………
Recognizing Saudi Customs and Traditions……………………………………………………..
Mobility………………………………………………………………………………………….
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………….
Introduction
The Saudization program encompasses Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s governmental initiatives aiming to encourage employment of Saudi nationals. The employment of the Saudi nationals depends on the qualifications and skills they possess and can be conducted either as a direct hire or as the hiring after the specific training and education. It is necessary to mention that the term Saudization is used mainly in the Middle East scientific literature, whereas Western literature refers to the program as job localization. Taking into account the massive amount of international businesses in the Saudi Arabia, the adequate and efficient human resource management strategies appear to be of great importance for the Saudi Arabia economy and overall state’s well-being. Saudi Arabia is increasingly interested in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) since it will set up many benefits from the technology and skills that will be coming to the country. “Improving the domestic skills base is vital if the ‘Saudization’ efforts, which aim to reduce dependence on expatriate labor and boost job opportunities for nationals, are to have serious success” (Interested, 3). Although the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is an extremely wealthy country, the unemployment rate among the Saudi nationals is increasingly high. Taking into account that the Saudi Arabia has a mainly young population with about 45 percent of it being under age of 18, the aims of Saudization to find or create jobs for Saudi nationals appears to be rather reasonable. With the fast development of the Saudi Arabia oil-based economy, employing the foreign workers was the only one possible way to meet the growing demand for labor. Currently, the amount of foreign workers in Saudi Arabia ranks about 86 percent, which fully depicts state’s problem of being over-dependent on the foreign workforce. Therefore, the indigenization program of Saudization was developed to tackle currently existing problems in the labor market.Saudi Arabia is rich in capital and natural resources. Over the years Saudi Arabia has invested large amounts of time and money in general and vocational education. Beginning in the late 1980s efforts of the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, the regional Chamber of Commerce and the General Organisation for Technical Education and Vocational Training (GOTEVT) were centered at the necessity to allocate the significant resources to provide competitive vocational education.
Rationale
Bearing in mind the growing unemployment rate among the Saudi Arabia citizens, it is worth questioning the efficacy of the policy of Saudization. Saudization was implemented through the range of governmental initiatives aiming at developing the long-term plan of raising the …
