JEDDAH, 11 December 2002 — The government is evolving a comprehensive national plan to eradicate unemployment, Al-Watan reported yesterday quoting an informed source.

The source said a national research center has conducted studies in cooperation with government departments to solve various social and economic problems including unemployment.

The source put unofficial estimate of unemployed Saudis at 337,330 by the end of 1999. A Manpower Council official put the figure at 350,000 in 2000.

The number of Saudi work force grew to 2.89 million in 1999, Al-Watan said and estimated the rate of unemployment in the Kingdom at 12 percent in 1999.

According to Planning Ministry estimates, as many as 817,000 Saudi youth were to enter job market from 2000 to 2005, at the rate of 163,000 each year.

Figures issued by the Civil Service Ministry said the government employed about 30,000 Saudis each in 2000 and 2001. The private sector provides 50,000 jobs to Saudis every year.

"In the light of these figures, about 80,000 Saudis were provided jobs in 2000 and 2001 from a total of 163,000," the paper said, adding that 166,000 people have been added to the list of unemployed during the last two years.

This brings the total unemployed to 503,330 by the end of 2001. "As the Saudi work force is estimated at 3.3 million as per the general statistics, the rate of unemployment should reach 15.3 percent by the end of 2001," the paper pointed out.

A study prepared by Princess Aljowhara bint Saud, associate professor at King Saud University, said there was no official estimate of unemployment rate among Saudi women.

"No exact figure is available. What is published in the press is mere estimates which are either baseless or exaggerated," she said.

Information on demographic and social structure is essential for the calculation of unemployment. Those who conduct such studies should have the necessary financial and administrative capabilities. Such studies give an important indicator of the Kingdom’s economic development.

The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs has conducted a number of studies to improve the work environment in the Kingdom, especially the minimum salary.

The Institute of Public Administration prepared another study on retention of workers, which is inevitable to improve productivity.

There were studies on ways of improving manpower training and labor market requirements, the paper said.

The Manpower Development Fund has a short-term plan to provide jobs to 10,000 Saudis this year and a long-term plan to train and employ 100,000 Saudis in five years.

Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, recently issued an order banning foreigners from driving taxis in the Kingdom to create more jobs for Saudis.

Officials working for taxi companies in the Kingdom said the new order would create at least 20,000 jobs for Saudis. They expected that many small taxi companies, which are incapable of meeting the new conditions, might withdraw from the market.

There are about 700 taxi firms in the Kingdom, concentrated mainly in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam. Sixty percent of them are small firms, while the others own around 400 cars each.

There are 2,700 foreign taxi drivers and 300 Saudi drivers working for 71 companies in the Eastern Province. Some 1,900 Saudis drive their own taxis.