To: Gemlaoshi who wrote (109704 ) 1/15/2015 1:27:13 AM From: elmatador Respond to The curse of the low cost labor, this is the case of Saudi Arabia study I am doing The main problem is cheap manpower. South east Asia and the Indian subcontinent has a huge supply of cheap labor. Northeast Africa entered competing with them: Ethiopia, Kenya and Sudan. As a result Saudi Arabia does not invest in increasing productivity and technology because there is a huge amount of cheap labor available. Saudi Arabia needs a change of strategic direction investing in technology and high productivity and get rid of the cheap arms and legs. I give an example: the public transport system presently being built, is an step in the right direction as it removes cars from the roads and provide convenient mean of transport to the population. This will lessen the need for taxi drivers and private drivers. Making the families more self-reliant. As result: less arms and legs. Saudi Arabia has been developing overtime not as a modern economy but an economy resembling the countries where the cheap labor comes from This is impacting the Saudization of the economy. The young Saudi associate the world of work with the workers that they are used to see: Cheap manpower at the back of a pick up truck! Saudization should not mean replacing foreign arms and legs for Saudi arms and legs. It does not mean act layer upon layer of supervision of low level workers. Saudization should be engaging Saudis in high productivity high technology economic activities. But this is not being implemented as it relies ion outdated techniques A big part of acquiring skills and knowledge happens in the work place. If the Saudis work hand in hand with the cheap labor they are not going to draw from highly developed countries. New ideas. New ways of solving problems. New materials and new technologies. They are going to draw from the Ethiopian and the Sudanese. In telecoms, the sector I work with, 20 years ago, the foreign suppliers brought their employees to Saudi to implement projects. And I was here 20 years ago. As I came back, Oi discovered that over the years Saudi Arabia developed a plethora of local contractors. They have no modern techniques to drawn from. They are still stuck with what they learned from the foreigners 20 years ago. The world out there have moved on but they are still stuck with old techniques old type of materials. They are cheap and they are low productive and they are very labor intensive because of the cheap imported low cost labor. If I compare what I have done in Africa in fiber optic projects in the last 5 years, with what is being done here, Africa is much more advanced although they have less capital. If you put the guy together a young Saudi with a low level worker, the Saudi is going to think: Is that the kind of jobs that I will make a living off? He is going to be put off! But get a young Saudi and tell him. You are going to work together with the best With the most advanced, and you are not going to use your arms and legs. You are going to use knowledge. Then the young Saudi would surely get an interest in the high productivity economy.
