JEDDAH: The general unemployment rate in the Kingdom has fallen slightly from 11.2 percent last year to 9.8 percent this year, Labor Minister Ghazi Al-Gosaibi announced yesterday.

Speaking to reporters at the ministry’s headquarters in Riyadh, Al-Gosaibi dwelt on measures taken by the ministry to cut unemployment, which had fallen from 8 percent to 6.0 percent among Saudi men and from 26.6 percent to 24.9 percent among Saudi women.

The minister’s statement was based on the latest statistics provided by the Ministry of Economy and Planning. Al-Gosaibi said the total Saudi workforce had reached 4.078 million in February 2008 and included 3.42 million men and 656,972 women. He added that 3.68 million, including 3.19 million men and 493,183 women, were employed. The number of unemployed Saudis fell from 454,000 to 400,000, representing 9.8 percent of the total Saudi work force, including 236,000 men and 164,000 women.

Al-Gosaibi added that 79 percent of unemployed Saudi men hold secondary school certificates or below, while 124,874 unemployed Saudi women have university degrees. Such women represent about 76 percent of unemployed Saudi women.

He attributed the fall in unemployment to the government’s efforts to Saudize jobs and growing government spending on development projects. Deputy Labor Minister Abdul Wahid Al-Humaid said the ministry had tried to make use of the Kingdom’s economic boom to increase job opportunities for Saudis. He said unemployment among Saudi women graduates was due to social factors. “Some companies also fear that employing women is expensive,” he said.

He added that the ministry would cooperate with contractors implementing government projects by providing them with necessary recruitment visas. “We have reduced the Saudization rate for contracting companies from 30 to five percent. We provide recruitment visas to the main contractor to meet labor requirements for a project. But subcontractors also apply for visas for the same project, causing duplication. We don’t accept such requests.”

Al-Humaid said the ministry would provide necessary training to unemployed workers to get jobs. “We give them remuneration and register their names with the General Organization for Social Insurance. Moreover, the Manpower Development Fund pays half of their salaries to companies employing them.”

He stressed the ministry’s plan to Saudize jobs while supplying qualified foreign manpower required for development projects.