We do not have detailed statistics. All local statistics are based on approximations. We have heard that the unemployment rate is eight percent. Where did this figure come from? We don’t know.
We have heard that there are seven million foreigners in Saudi Arabia. A researcher then said that that number was not correct. Detailed and dependable statistics are not available.
In the Kingdom, there are no centers or organizations which specialize in careful research and the provision of dependable and accurate statistics. When we look for statistics, we are looking at inaccurate numbers. When we quote statistics, we are quoting inaccurate numbers. When we ask why the statistics are inaccurate, we are told that no one checks them and that no one asks where the statistics came from.
In an article in a local Arabic daily, one Mr. Zahrani wrote four articles in which he gave the numbers of people employed in the national project for training and employment in Makkah. He wrote the articles without finding even one of the project’s employees to comment on the project or tell him whether his figures and statistics were accurate.
Mr. Zahrani wrote that the secretary-general of the project said: “We employed 82,079 Saudi males and females over three years.” Later he said: “We employed 53,474 over three years.” And then, to confuse us even more, he said: “We succeeded in employing 48,518.” And here is the last statement issued by the secretary-general: “We employed 70,000 over three years.”
Mr. Zahrani asks a simple and perfectly reasonable question: Which number should we believe? All four of them belong to the same project with the difference between the numbers being in the thousands.
Supposedly the story is that people in the project did not realize that there would be someone like Mr. Zahrani following up these numbers and comparing them.
Officials do not like to give numbers. For example, they might say, “We employed more than 50,000.” This “more than” might mean 51,000 or double that number. We will never find the truth in statistics, especially if certain of our professionals provide them.
Arab News From the Local Press 25 August 2003
