Headline March 28, 2018/ ''' *SAUDIZATION SIGH SANDSTORMS* '''

''' *SAUDIZATION SIGH 

SANDSTORMS* '''

THE WORLD STUDENTS SOCIETY - most lovingly and respectfully called, !WOW!, - for every subject in the world, stops and steps by to pay its humble respects to -

His Highness, King Salman bin Abdul Aziz alSaud, and the Crown Prince His Excellency Prince Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and the people of Saudi Arabia.

IN SAUDI ARABIA - half the population is under 25, and government statistics show the youth unemployment rate-

*Hovers around 40 percent. A potential powder keg, all in the making.*

Nearly two-thirds of all Saudis are are employed by the government, and public sector wage bill and  allowance account for roughly half of all government expenditure.

A RIYADH gold souk festooned with glittering jewellery has run short of salesmen after a government edict to replace foreign workers with Saudis-

*Part of contentious efforts to tackle some very high unemployment*.

The oil-rich Kingdom has long relied on foreign labour for jobs in sales and services, both for skills and cost, but these positions are increasingly being reserved for Saudi workers.

The problem is that many Saudis, long accustomed to a generous cradle-to-grave welfare system that has been scaled back, regard such jibs as degrading.

In the capital's labyrinthine Tiba gold market, the widening policy known as Saudization has upended businesses.

Some gold shops have shut down and others are struggling among shortages of skilled Saudi labour after the government enforced ''100 percent Saudization'' in December.

''Saudis are new to this kind of a job and they need to gain experience,'' said  Saudi shop owner Fayez aI-Hardi, who has brought in male relatives to temporarily replace a handful of Yemeni salesmen he was forced to let go.

Multiple shopkeepers in Tiba and another gold souk visited by AFP are struggling to recruit nationals amid what they call a misplaced sense of entitlement.

Many Saudis are unwilling to work long hours and early shifts and even those without experience demand more than double the wage of skilled foreigners.

''This is killing our business,'' another jewellery shop owner said, showing AFP a pile of resumes recruited Saudis.

The best among them, he said, lasted only two days.

Some shops are holding foreign workers in reserve and continue pay their salaries as they stay home in the hope the government will reverse its decision.

But that appears increasingly unlikely.

''When I go hunting for a job, shop owners say  'we only want Saudi, Saudi, Saudi,'' said a  Yemeni worker in Tiba market, claiming he was let go from her previous job there.

Retooling the Economy:

Saudization is part of a major retooling of the Kingdom's lagging oil economy, aimed at jump-starting private sector jobs in order to wean citizens off government largesse and decrease the public wage bill.

Saudi media frequently laud a new crop of nationals who are for the first time working as car mechanics, Uber drivers and gas station workers, jobs that were long deemed worthy only for blue-collar foreign workers.

The ground reality is :

''It will take a decade and a half or more to culturally shift the Saudi labor force to create a working class of Saudis willing to do serious service sector, retail and construction jobs,'' said Karen Young, a scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington.

So, at Riyadh gold souk, 'Saudization' spells scarcity of salesmen.

The Honor and Serving of the latest *Operational Research* on the state of the world, continues.

With respectful dedication to the Students, Professors and Teachers of Saudi Arabia and then the world. See Ya all on !WOW! - the World Students Society and Twitter - !E-WOW! - the Ecosystem 2011:

''' Sun & Sands '''

Good Night and God Bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless