Angry Saudi football clubs pinpoint Gulf labor market contradictions

Saudi football clubs warn that a Labor Ministry-imposed quota system for Saudi nationals will disadvantage clubs by preventing them from hiring foreign talent Mounting anger among Saudi football clubs at their subjugation to quotas - designed to encourage employment of Saudi nationals and reduce dependence on foreign labor - illustrates the problems encountered by wealthy Gulf countries in balancing contradictory demands. These include labor markets, often lopsided demographics, social contracts involving a cradle-to-grave welfare state that creates unrealistic employment expectations, and organizations' need to hire personnel on the basis of nationality rather than merit.

The clubs, many of which are owned by members and associates of the ruling al-Saud family but publicly funded, warned that a Labor Ministry decision to include them in a quota system intended to force the private sector to hire a larger number of Saudi nationals could disadvantage them by preventing them from hiring foreign talent. The clubs' complaint mirrors problems across the Gulf with government efforts to encourage preferential employment of nationals. The complaint is particularly stark given that the kingdom, unlike smaller Gulf states like Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, still boasts a population in which nationals constitute a majority, if only a slim one. Qataris, for example, account for a mere six percent of the Qatari labor market, making the country wholly dependent on foreign labor with no prospect of altering the market balance.

As a result, labor quota systems may encourage nationals to consider a wider range of employment opportunities but are unlikely to resolve the underlying demographic problem. The quotas also at times force...