The spin-offs of being the world's biggest oil exporter pervades Saudi Arabian society like no other industry anywhere in the world.
The discovery of commercially viable oil in the Eastern Province in the 1930s changed Saudi Arabia forever, as a population comprising mostly nomadic people, shepherds and farmers stumbled upon wealth and became urbanised. It added a dimension to the employment landscape in which people could choose working in a government job, private company or oil.
Kamran Saddique, an investment consultant for Middle East corporations, says Saudi oil has enriched the lives of people in the country. 'Oil prices are still higher than expected in their public budget, so the extra windfall is translated into generous social programmes for Saudi Arabia's citizens,' Saddique says. 'New jobless benefits, education and housing subsidies, and also debt write-offs are possible from oil revenues. These programmes are further extended to the Shiite minority in the Eastern Province.'
In 1950, about 40 per cent of Saudis were nomadic and lived in tents, scattering across the land in search of grazing and water for their goats, sheep and camels. Another significant portion lived in rural villages, while only about 20 per cent resided in the major cities of Riyadh, Mecca, Medina and towns.
Once the financial benefits of oil started to trickle down to the people in the 1960s and 1970s, more people started moving to the cities and oil centres. These days, about 80 per cent of the Saudi Arabian population are city-dwellers.
As the urban areas expanded, Bedouins built their own villages within these cities and on the outskirts. They worked mostly as labourers, traders and taxi drivers, eventually moving up the social order and earning jobs in the private sector or starting their own businesses.
In terms of oil revenue benefits, these are manifested through tax-free salaries, free health care, education and other concessions.
