RIYADH, 4 October — No exact figure of unemployed Saudis is available, Labor and Social Affairs Minister Dr. Ali Al-Namlah said yesterday while underlining government efforts to banish joblessness.

"We don’t know the exact rate of unemployment due to absence of correct information on the number of job seekers and vacant positions," he said.

But in a recent speech at King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah, the minister estimated the number of Saudi job seekers at 3.2 million.

He disclosed plans to establish a comprehensive database for national manpower. "This could be achieved by linking all labor offices in the Kingdom with the ministry’s database," he added.

He said his ministry was giving extra care to employment of Saudi women, especially in areas which are suitable to their nature and without having to mingle with men.

Speaking to Al-Hayat Arabic newspaper, Al-Namlah said the government’s Saudization drive was successful in achieving positive results.

"We at the Labor Ministry are trying to eradicate unemployment by creating suitable job opportunities to Saudi youths in the private sector," he said.

"We find employment for Saudis in private companies which are obliged to Saudize their jobs at the rate of five percent annually," he said quoting a Cabinet decision.

"We also ensure employment of Saudis in jobs which are reserved for them," he added.

He said many companies have made substantial progress in employing Saudis after providing them with necessary training. Some employers have even established training centers for the purpose.

He said the newly established Manpower Development Fund would contribute greatly toward providing on-the-job training to Saudi youths.

"We are studying the problems being faced by Saudi job seekers, including harassment of Saudis by certain foreign workers and reluctance of some employers to provide them jobs," he said.

Answering a question, the minister said that certain jobs have been restricted to Saudis in light of availability of qualified Saudis to take up those jobs.

"These job restrictions are made to create more opportunities for Saudis and prevent recruitment of foreigners for such jobs," he added.

The ministry has banned employment of expatriates in jobs such as administrative manager, training manager, public relations jobs, secretaries, assistant administrative manager, purchase manager, telephone operators, warehouse manager, cash collectors, cashiers, distributors of posts, information registrar, ticket salesmen, auto sales executives, housing supervisors and tourist guides.

Al-Namlah did not rule out restricting jobs at press organizations to Saudis at a later stage. "I am happy to state that many press establishments in the country have already started Saudizing their jobs gradually," he added.

In another interview with Al-Hayat, Ibrahim Quweyder, head of the Cairo-based Arab Labor Office said that some 16 million non-Arabs work in the Arab countries, about the same as Arabs in non-Arab states.

"Despite the Saudization, Kuwaitization and Qatarization of labor there is still possibility for the Arab worker to find a job in an Arab country; there are 16 million foreign workers in the Arab nation," he said.

He was referring to policies to nationalize jobs in the Gulf states that rely heavily on cheap foreign labor, mainly Asians.

Quweyder said among the 22 members of the Arab League, unemployment was most serious in the Palestinian territories, in Iraq and in Algeria.

He also put at 16 million the number of Arabs working in non-Arab countries, including 6.8 million in the United States. Those figures exclude those who have acquired the citizenship of the host country, he said.