JEDDAH: Asaad Jawhar, economic analyst at King Abdul Aziz University, has criticized the Labor Ministry for failing to solve the unemployment problem.
He said the ministry should close and give the chambers of commerce and industry the chance to solve the Kingdom’s unemployment and labor issues.
He explained, “They have presented no solution to a problem that has existed for more than 20 years.
As for the idea of adding 50 new employees to track down illegal workers, he said, “I will tell (labor minister) Ghazi Al-Gosaibi that 50 employees could not cover one street in Riyadh.”
Al-Gosaibi has expressed reservations over the idea of providing unemployed Saudis with financial assistance, every six months or eight months.
The idea was presented by Shoura member Abdul Aziz Al-Oraier during a Shoura session on Monday. The minister rejected the idea, saying that it would encourage unemployed Saudis to stop looking for work.
Al-Gosaibi said that a high school diploma alone is not a suitable qualification for employment.
He pointed out that according to the Central Department of Statistics and Information, 90 percent of the unemployed (280,000 male Saudis), lack qualifications.
He said that official statistics also provided by the Central Department of Statistics & Information indicated that more than 148,000 women are unemployed. Jawhar maintains that giving financial help to the unemployed is a good idea and it will help them psychologically in looking for a job. He said that the Labor Ministry was the last ministry to be consulted on such decision because they had all the time to solve the problem but had failed to do so.
