This is in reference to the front-page story “Labor Ministry understaffed” (May 14). It is shocking to read that the Ministry of Labor, responsible for regulating employment matters, is apparently unable to regulate itself. This is illustrated by the one third of empty desks at the ministry, which has currently 4,552 staff but also at least 2,206 unfilled vacancies of its own. For a government department which exists to encourage best practice in the employment field, this is a regrettable situation to be in, hinting that the ministry may not yet be fit for purpose.
Furthermore, recent reports that expatriate so-called “unskilled” workers, such as plumbers and electricians, are leaving Saudi Arabia in droves should be a point of serious concern. That’s because very few local citizens possess the high levels of training and skills needed to be an electrician or a plumber. If expatriates won’t do these jobs in future — then who will? The Ministries of Labour and Education really need to step up their provision of training courses for local youths in such technical fields as those, and in many other fields too. It may be all very well for vast numbers of new graduates to be annually churned out of the rapidly-increasing number of universities in the Kingdom. But such an ever-increasing glut of new graduates holding non-technical degrees is likely to contribute little to solving the employment needs of many companies here.
And then young graduates themselves, since there are many more of them coming out of universities than there are real graduate-level jobs available for them, must be disappointed by the present situation.
Perhaps the Ministry of Labor could make a start, by offering at least 2,206 of them employment within its own offices? — Paul Grant, Jeddah
Understaffed ministry
