Counting of elderly expats twice

By Mazen Baleela THE Ministry of Labor and Social Development proposed a draft law to count expatriates aged over 60 years twice while making the head count at private sector establishments in what is widely seen as an attempt to discourage businesses from retaining foreign workers beyond the retirement age. Thank God this law is still a draft and under discussion so we could express our views and discuss its feasibility before it becomes law. The idea seems justifiable and objective from the outset. A business establishment that failed to pass the experience from an expatriate worker who is above 60 to a Saudi worker is an establishment that is failing and deserves punishment. From a moral perspective, however, this law underscores racial discrimination, which is fought on many fronts by governments and organizations around the world. A person should not be judged by his age, color or race. If the person was doing a good job, then he or she deserves to keep it. From a scientific point of view, there are jobs that can only be occupied by experience workers, such as research positions at universities and super speciality doctors at hospitals, for example. The country is in need of such professionals and we need to provide an attractive environment to keep them and not to drive them away. Legally speaking, the age of retirement is not specified in Saudi law. The Shoura Council is studying proposals to increase the age of retirement in the public sector by two years, while in the private sector, the age of retirement differs from company to company, or is not specified at all. From a professional point of view, what makes a difference in the domestic job market is not age, but wage. There are people who have retired from the public service at a young age and then earning tens of thousands of riyals in private sector jobs. With the salary of one such person, we could probably employ ten Saudis. There are, however, old expatriates in marginal jobs earning only 50 percent of what a Saudi in a similar position earns.