Aug 20, 2010

New Saudi Labor Minister Adel Fakieh

Qusay Saudi 5 Comments

Eng. Adel Fakieh (no relation to Rima Faqih) is the new Saudi Labor minister taking place of the late Dr Ghazi Al-Gosaibi, and he will need some of Tony Robbins motivational talks, unless he wants to get the Saudi version of Tony and get Rashad Fakiha, because that would help the Saudization efforts.

Again and again and again, Saudi has seen so much change over the decades, that, non of the so called known models in many subjects could be applied without further research or customisation. Whether it be an economist or a sociologist or a historian or a financial analyst, Saudi could be a place of prime interest for research and implementation.

Saudization is on the list, like the late Dr. Gosaibi, and like any government in the world, employment is a hot subject, especially now with the GFC still not over. How Can a country with so many foreign workers not be able to provide jobs for its own youth? With no minimum wage, and wages as low as 1800-2000SR a month, it is hard to get Gen-Y to do anything for that money, especially that some have parents who are well off like their baby boomer counterparts in the US, the idea of working for crumbs (to them) is not lucrative.

Some of the poorer families need those jobs, and do work in them and struggle like this guy who works as a security guard , a story like his is not rare, but with minimum education, and cheap foreign labor, their chances of finding a trade or working in construction are almost none existent, plus, every trade has a nationality that has a grip on it, the last thing they need is Saudi guys competing with them, so there is another barrier of entry for them.

Of course industry has the upper hand in all of this, they need laborers to conduct their business, while they could hire a Saudi guy who might work for little money, they could get an experienced person for that amount and that person would be locked in a contract (i.e. she/he won’t leave before it ends, or leave with a thirty day notice, not that at that minimum wage a severance package is anything to look forward to), and more often than not, that person would be able to save and invest his money back in his own country or send his children to the best universities there because that measly sum, goes a long way in many countries where most people live on less than $2 a day. I am happy for them of course, they struggle and sacrifice to make a better life for themselves and their families, and they have my utmost respect no matter what honest job they do, or what nationality they are from.

I wish the new minister the best in trying to find the never ending balance between the people on one side and industry on the other.

Eng. Adel Fakieh is under a lot of criticism from the people due to the Jeddah floods, I do not know the extent of his involvement in finding a solution, but I know the problem developed years before his time.

Of course due to the lack of political parties that tear each other’s policies up (and character and personal life, etc) on national television, radio, magazines and newspapers, this thing does not happen in Saudi, instead, people are using twitter #fagih but it is only to vent some pent up frustration.

It is not like people can vote for a minister anywhere in the world, they vote for a Prime Minister or President and that person chooses his cabinet, so if the King appointed him, I think he trusts him and has heard his ideas, I and everyone else for that matter can only wait and see when these ideas turn into policies.