I DO not understand why some authorities insist on only linking the meaning of Saudization solely to stalls run by Saudis at the vegetable market. Although several sectors are still controlled by expatriates and many businessmen continue to come up with excuses to divert Saudis away from their companies, some authorities tend to focus every now and then on Saudizing the vegetable market. Is this the only option to which authorities resort in order to Saudize jobs? For many young men, the meaning of Saudization has become synonymous with strenuous jobs in the vegetable market or a salesman with a low salary not exceeding SR2,000 a month. There is nothing wrong with working anywhere, including the vegetable market. Nothing will detract from the value of a Saudi man who works in any field. What is really shocking is why Saudization is linked to the vegetable markets and always means low-paid jobs. Authorities should not overlook or turn a blind eye to other sectors that give non-Saudis more priority despite the fact that they can absorb thousands of jobless youth. Some statistics put the volume of annual sales of travel agencies in the country at over SR18 billion. Although this volume constitutes a large pie of the economy, Saudi youth only get crumbs of it. Only 30 percent of Saudis work in this promising sector and most of them are hired for Saudization purposes to circumvent the laws of the Ministry of Labor. Their average monthly salary ranges from SR3,000 to SR4,000 while that of their expatriate counterparts can reach SR25,000 excluding incentives, training, health insurance and travel tickets, etc. This is only one of many examples that can be found in other sectors that do not give Saudis high salaries and a lot of benefits and prefer to give them to others. If authorities are not seeing the complete picture because they are not aware of the concerns Saudi youth have, let me say that the Saudi youth feel angry when they see all these benefits going to expatriate workers while they are driven in groups to the stalls of the vegetable market. The unemployment problem can never be solved in this way. It is all about priorities. The labor market will continue to suffer from disruption as long as there are businessmen who are greedy and do not want to give young Saudis opportunities. We cannot do that then blame our youth because they do not want to sell onions, potatoes, watercress and leeks.
