The article "Contractors refute claim by Saudi Council of Engineers" (Dec. 2) reports that the chairman of the national committee for contracting said that there are not enough Saudi engineers prepared to work hard. He said that he found a job for a Saudi engineer in the private sector that paid SR10,000. The engineer worked for two months and then shifted to the government sector, cutting his pay to SR6,000. This news item shows how laziness has been cemented into the youth of this country and how many of them always like to avoid work. The solution to this problem is to have a proper upbringing from childhood in order to make young people hardworking. S. Ahmed, Online response II. My father is an official of a government department and all he does is delegate his work to his secretary and lower level employees and just signs everything after the work is done. This is the life of a government employee and that is why when the younger generation sees this, they are ready to accept a smaller salary rather than to work hard for a larger salary where they might have to sweat in the hot sun. Manong, Online response III. As this article points out, it is very difficult to find Saudis who can work as hard as expats, not just in engineering but in other professions as well. You can find one Saudi in a thousand who is dedicated to his work but with this small number, it will take another 20 to 40 years before Saudis are able to replace expats. Afza, Online response
