Javid Hassan

During my long tenure as a journalist in Riyadh, I once received a press release from a Saudi executive on the balance sheet performance of a local bank. It was a long report loaded with statistics and it required a lot of rewriting to make it usable. I told the gentleman that I would send it to the head office for a final decision. As I expected, the press release was not accepted.



A week later, the same person, who was freelancing for some banks as a middle man, dropped in with another release from a different bank. What riveted my attention this time was the striking similarity in the format of the two press releases, except for the statistical difference. A quick check online showed that both were sourced from RapidPressRelease.com, with relevant statistics to fill in the blanks.



I recall this incident in the context of Saudi Arabia’s Global Competitiveness Report 2012–2013 which was released recently and shows that the Kingdom ranked 18th among 144 countries. A noteworthy aspect is that the nation stands sixth in terms of macroeconomic stability.



The report also says that increasing reliance on Information Communications Technology (ICT) has contributed to manpower productivity. Even so, the Kingdom has been placed 59th in terms of labor market efficiency, 58th in health and primary education and 40th in the field of higher education and training.  



These tell-tale statistics show that investments in ICT and education have not made any significant dent in changing the mindset of the people or their faculty of critical thinking in problem solving. Saudi Arabia will, therefore, have to reform its educational system at all levels in order to realize a demographic dividend. Such a course of action is dictated by the need to address the challenges looming ahead starting with local manpower.



Although the Nitaqat system has helped to create 250,000 additional jobs for Saudis within a year, the question remains whether Saudization has brought about any qualitative change. Going by Labor Minister Adel Fakeih’s announcement, it seems clear that the Saudi government is more concerned with numbers and higher salaries for Saudi employees than with the per capita output. A rise in per capita GDP signals growth in the economy and also an increase in productivity.



With the ranking system introduced under Nitaqat, a number of expatriates will be obliged to leave if their organization fails to meet the Saudization target. The manpower policy could have serious implications in the long run if experienced hands are short-changed as their firms fall into the red zone for their failure to Saudize manpower according to the specified quota.



Some Indian citizens have already returned home due to their employers inability to meet the requirements of the Nitaqat scheme. Obviously, the labor ministry has not addressed this issue in its eagerness to reach the target it has set. The Nitaqat scheme can succeed only if Saudis fill the vacancies at the middle level currently manned by expatriates with technical experience. Herein is the problem of converting a challenge into an opportunity by setting up training programs geared to the Kingdom’s needs.



According to Dr. Ayoub Kazim, Managing Director, Dubai Knowledge Village, educational reform can address not only market needs but also help the stakeholders, including students, parents, educational institutions and industries to transform liabilities into assets. Saudization of the workforce can succeed only through a comprehensive training program that should also change the mindset of employees. Any ad hoc approach will result in partial success, as the Global Competitiveness Report has shown.

The writer is a political commentator based in Bangalore, India.