One of the Saudi Arabia’s most pressing issues came to the fore recently when the Ministry of Labor unveiled new “Saudiization” legislation, aimed at replacing immigrant laborers with Saudi Arabians. Contractors managed to win some concessions from the ministry, but emphasized the importance of immigrant labor for the completion of the kingdom’s numerous mega-projects. For years, the kingdom has relied on expatriate blue-collar workers, particularly from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and the Philippines for heavy manual labor such as construction site work. High numbers of expatriate workers are also found in a broad range of sectors, particularly those requiring a high level of skill, such as engineering. In addition, the majority of house-staff are imported. Unofficial estimates place the number of expatriate workers at just under 7 million. Saudiization, however, is the process of replacing expatriate labor with Saudi nationals. Saudi Arabia has a growing population, with a majority
