Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Ahmad Al-Zamil was recently quoted as saying that the number of Saudis employed in the private sector was 562,246 based on figures from the ministry’s department of statistics.
According to figures in the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency’s annual report for 2002, the population of Saudi Arabia was 23.37 million, of whom 17.34 million are Saudis and the rest — 6.3 million — non-Saudis. The SAMA report said the number of Saudis of working age was 9.5 million and those employed in the government sector numbered one million.
In other words, if we add the number of Saudis in the private sector to the SAMA figures, we will see the total number of working Saudis is 1.56 million. Based on this figure, the rate of unemployment in the Kingdom is 35 percent. The figure is close to estimates by foreign sources but a far cry from the 8.5 percent provided by the Manpower Council.
We should expect to see unemployment among foreign workers in the country although it may not be easy to determine the figures. Considering the number of illegal foreigners in the country, the unemployment rate among them could be as high as 50 percent or even more. In the absence of reliable figures, it might well be that overall unemployment in the Kingdom among Saudis as well as non-Saudis is not far from the a staggering 40 percent.
This is a very frightening figure indeed. It is hardly an exaggeration to say that these figures represent a time bomb which could go off at any moment. The countdown has already begun, given the number of terrorists being arrested and others hunted down by the authorities to say nothing of drug addicts and others committing various crimes, especially smuggling and illegal trade in alcohol.
All of these are symptoms of a crisis that could be averted by providing more employment opportunities. This is possible if we adopt new measures starting with transforming our universities into research centers. Otherwise, no development programs will succeed even if we spend billions of riyals on them.
