Countries try to reduce unemployment among their people knowing this a major factor to ensure economic stability. For this reason they treat the reduction of unemployment rates as a top priority in their economic policies.
The Saudi government has long sensed the increasing number of the unemployed among its citizens but remained confused over which road to take to solve the problem. The hard part lies in striking a balance between the pressure caused by the problem and the pressure of other interests that have so far frustrated all attempts to reach a solution.
Whenever pressed on the issue, officials offer the same answer by demanding that the private sector should lead the way. They know very well that the private sector cannot accommodate all the unemployed men, let alone provide work for women whose chances of being employed are severely restricted. Local traditions and social customs coupled with the kind of education our students receive have combined to produce a situation that to a large extent contradicts the philosophy and mechanisms of private businesses. They only employ when there is a need and not just for the sake of seeing more people receiving paychecks at the end of the month.
If given the chance, Saudi women can prove to be as efficient and qualified as anybody. Consider what happened the other day at a ladies branch of a local bank. When the ladies finish preparing the checks and other documents, the next day a male employee usually takes these documents to the offices of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) since women are not allowed there. For some reason, the employee did not show up one day and the manager found herself in a critical situation. After consulting with the local staff the manager decided to send one of the ladies to SAMA to deliver the documents. Imagine the shock and confusion on the faces of SAMA employees when they found themselves before a woman instead of the man they used to deal with. The woman was received with due respect and offered all the cooperation and luckily the case passed off without problems.
It is this kind of situation that reminds us of the magnitude of the problem. People have been promised the problem would be fixed only to discover that it is still there with no signs of any change. They find themselves unable to understand how a country can be unable to provide jobs for its citizens yet continue to accommodate millions of foreign workers.
