Burger on wheels: Saudis once try "modest" jobs as an economy, Government and Economy



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[RIYADH] On the lookout for burgers and fries smeared with melted cheese, "One Way Burger" is like any other fashionable food truck in Riyadh. But it offers something rare – the cook behind the hot sizzling grill is a Saudi.

In the formerly tax free state oil, which has long offered to its citizens the welfare of the cradle to the grave, manual crafts such as cooking, cleaning and work in the Service stations are largely the preserve of foreign workers, who far exceed the Saudis.

But the Saudis are taking more and more jobs from "inferior status" into a new era of austerity. The government cut back on oil-financed subsidies and attacked sluggish economic growth and high unemployment

"When I started this food truck two years ago, many people said, "Do you sell burgers and sandwiches in the street? a big family and a big tribe, "said Bader al-Ajmi, owner of 38-year-old One Way Burger.

"People were surprised," he added, as a Porsche stopped on the side of his truck.

Since Ajmi started his business, diving into his savings character, owning a food truck has become the trend of the day and has reached a level of respectability. Working indoors as a cook has not been there yet.

Yet many Saudis, who have long depended on the welfare state for safe and undemanding manual labor, adopt manual jobs

. Nationals work as tea sellers and car mechanics.

Posh Lexus-owners work as Uber drivers for pocket money.

"Will Saudis ever work as a street cleaner?" Columnist Abdulhadi al-Saadi recently asked in the Saudi Gazette

"Some people will turn a blind eye to this proposal … They should know that nations rise only on the shoulders of their own people", writes he. Last December, residents of the eastern region of Al-Ahsa celebrated a handful of young Saudi men who swallowed their pride in performing another long-considered dishonorable job – working in a gas station. "19659002" The client said in a video of Snapchat

"The Prophet Muhammad was working as a shepherd."

"WE DO NOT WORK FOR US"

We still do not know how many nationals have moved into blue-collar workers, but the trend defies a popular maxim among the Saudis: "They (expatriates) work for us, we do not work for us. "

"Saudis occupy jobs historically dominated by expatriate workers," Graham Griffiths said. Control Risks consultancy.

"The social stigma surrounding certain types of textbooks or services has been strong, but the economic necessity makes it very difficult to take such jobs regardless of their social status."

Cultural attitudes at work change in a major redevelopment of the Saharan economy, the country seeking to wean itself

Nearly two-thirds of all Saudis are employed by the government, and payroll and public sector allowances make up about half of all public expenditure.

Saudi economist Abdullah al-Maghlouth said the new economy would push more Saudis to become plumbers, carpenters and tailors, jobs that were acceptable decades ago before the oil boom.

– a policy known as "saudization" – as well as an expending levy on wages entail a huge exodus of expatriates, who hold 70 percent of all jobs.

Official statistics show nearly 800,000 foreign workers have left the kingdom since the beginning of 2017, creating what the homeowners call a "hiring crisis."

An Indian said that he was in trouble, unable to get a work permit for his South Asian leaders.

The exodus has brought down the rental real estate market and cities like Riyadh are dotted with empty shop windows and shopping malls amidst the low demand of customers

FA FAKE SAUDISATION & # 39;

Some companies implementing the "Saudization" also complain The director of a refrigerator manufacturing plant that recently hired dozens of Saudi assemblers and technicians said that a handful from among them had been found "sleeping in refrigerator manufacturing plants". their cars during working hours.

Many companies are circumventing the policy by paying Saudi workers for tinging false jobs in a misconduct called "fake bogus".

Contentious politics do not lower unemployment among nationals. Unemployment among Saudis has reached nearly 13% in the first quarter of this year

The challenge, say observers, is not only to create more jobs for the Saudis, but also to convince citizens take them

meat inside his food truck, Mr. Ajmi said that in the beginning, his business was a one-man show. He has done everything from cutting vegetables to the counter fryer.

He hired two Saudis and two Indians, but recruiting Saudis ready to work late at night – from 9pm to midnight – remains a challenge.

A dazzling truck of coffee and desserts parked next to his own also belongs to a Saudi, but the workers inside are all Filipino.

million. Ajmi said his success, which also highlights the kingdom's fledgling scene, prompted him to recently purchase another food truck sporting the "Mercedes Benz" logo – which added a new polish of respectability to the workplace .

"Many people … were against the (food truck)," Ajmi said. "Now, they say:" If you have a job, let me know. "

AFP

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