Goodbye to cheap labor !!! The ongoing security campaign has unearthed a large number of stray workers who overstayed in the Kingdom. All of them violated labor and residency laws, while some of them engaged in criminal activities. The campaign also exposed tasatur businesses (a venture solely controlled by foreigners in exchange for a fixed fee paid to the registered Saudi owner). According to local press reports, about 70 percent of gold factories in the Kingdom are tasatur ventures. Hence, it is important to continue the inspection campaign vigorously and there should not be any letup in this drive. It is essential that the Ministry of Interior issues a directive to ensure the security campaign continues until all illegal expatriates have left the Kingdom. To achieve this, there should not be any specific period to end the campaign. As I mentioned in a previous article, we have to take advantage of the lessons from the past and not repeat our mistakes. We should not recruit any more illiterate expatriates. We have to give our embassies powers to scrutinize the educational qualifications and competence of workers, especially professionals, before they are recruited. We should fix the minimum salary for them so that they will not compete with Saudis in vocational and technical trades, even in flea markets (haraj) like the Ibn Qassim Haraj in Riyadh. Several Saudi owners of the market thanked the security authorities for clearing the haraj of illegal expatriates. They pointed out the campaign would contribute substantially in creating job opportunities for Saudi youths and this would help young job seekers to engage in various business activities and earn profits. The important thing is that this would help offset the shortage of workers in future, especially in vocational fields. For this, the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation (TVTC) should intensify its drive to provide training for more and more Saudis to enable them to fulfill the requirements of the local employment market. The universities should work on introducing more job-oriented courses.
Posted on: Tue, 26 Nov 2013 05:34:02 +0000