Unemployment is a monster which not only renders the fit powerless but prevents them from contributing to their society’s development. It may also lead them into the underworld. Many of the unemployed have in desperation turned to trafficking in drugs and alcohol, committed theft, even armed robbery and other crimes in order to gain money. This is the reason the government has made combating unemployment a top priority.
This brings us to the role of educational institutions in support of the government’s efforts. These institutions should provide qualified job-seekers who are able to do what they are hired to do at whatever level they work at.
Tens of thousands of graduates leave our educational institutions every year and for a variety of reasons, few of them find employment. One reason is that the market requires certain specializations and the unvarnished truth is that our universities and other educational institutions have failed to provide them. Large numbers of graduates find themselves being offered jobs totally unrelated to their specializations or jobs which they have not been trained to do.
The main obstacle is in the private sector where many graduates pin their hopes. This sector remains the greatest impediment for accelerating Saudization. There have, however, been exceptions. The banking sector, for example, has achieved acceptable levels of Saudization.
Sending messages and appealing to the private sector to employ graduates will do nothing to combat unemployment. The solution lies in making radical changes in educational programs — beginning in elementary and continuing all the way through college or university. These programs must be linked to the actual needs in the job market.
Emphasis must also be laid on training because many businessmen regularly complain that the training which new graduates have received often has nothing to do with the work they are required to do.
At the same time, businessmen should not shift all the blame to others since they themselves have failed to provide training for their employees.
Government departments should reduce the number of expatriate workers and train young Saudi graduates to take over expatriate jobs. This means the departments must devise training programs that answer their own needs. With a non-Saudi workforce dominating technical and vocational jobs, including such sectors as health, engineering and construction to name only a few, we should intensify and expand vocational training.
Far too many of us look down on certain jobs and refuse to consider ourselves or our children in those jobs. Such narrow views must change if we really want to help our national economy and contribute to the development and prosperity of our country.
Arab News From the Local Press 26 November 2002
