Unemployment is one of the most dangerous challenges that any society faces. It provides fertile ground for criminal tendencies and social aberrations to grow. It also causes mental illness among the youth. An overall atmosphere of frustration prevails in a society in which people cannot find gainful employment.
That is why advanced countries strive to keep down the level of unemployment to the minimum. In Japan, for instance, the ruling party announced recently plans to launch a set of emergency measures to support the economy after a record rise in the unemployment rate and a fast drop in consumer prices were observed.
In its attempt to pre-empt the evil effects of unemployment, Kuwait has taken such steps as payment of unemployment allowance. The Syrian government has also recently constituted a commission to fight the menace. The commission’s role is not confined to providing employment opportunities and giving allowances to the unemployed; it is also to undertake training and rehabilitation projects. The commission is subsidized by the government as well as local banks and trade unions.
It is time to ask ourselves why there is no similar commission in our country. It is sad to note that the efforts made in our country to increase job opportunities have not borne fruit in the absence of coordination and common strategies. There are too many departments involved at present — the Ministries of Interior, Labor and Social Affairs, the Manpower Development Council, provincial governorates, Chambers of Commerce and Industry, the Human Resources Development Fund and other governmental and private agencies. Why can’t the investments and facilities scattered among several departments be concentrated and coordinated in order to use them in a much more effective manner?
A lack of clear vision in handling the issue is manifested by the fact that there is no precise statistics about the size of unemployment in the Kingdom. Nor is there any authentic information about the other details about the unemployed. There is no database about the jobs available for Saudis. It is absurd that different government agencies claim different unemployment figures in the Kingdom. While some put it at 8 percent, some others claim it as 15 percent and yet others say it is much more than that.
The employment rate in a country should be officially determined because it is a yardstick of the economy’s health. The trends in the share and currency markets are also based, to a great extent, on the unemployment level in a country. It also helps central banks and giant corporations in forming their policies. The fact we have no such vital data points to a lack of seriousness on our part to treat the issue with the seriousness it deserves.
All these underline the urgent need to set up a high authority to deal with unemployment in all its aspects. Its first task should be to determine the unemployment rate in the country and then decide the strategy to deal with it. It can also determine the role of other agencies working with the same goal, and coordinate their activities as well as monitor the efforts being made to fight the menace from a national perspective. In the absence of such an apex body, all our attempts to fight the evil will not produce the desired effect. We will continue to treat the symptoms instead of the deep-lying causes of the malady.
