Rush for teaching jobs raises Saudi female unemployment

Private and public schools in the Kingdom are not in a position to absorb the large number of Saudi women to work as teachers as more than 76 percent of Saudi women are looking for teaching jobs, says Ibrahim Al-Muaiqel, general director of the Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF).
The Ministry of Education has said that priority must be given to Saudis in teaching positions, in compliance with the laws stipulated by the Ministry of Labor.
Al-Muaiqel said many Saudi women prefer to work as teachers rather than in others job in private companies. At least 76 percent of Saudi women are willing to work in the public education sector despite the fact that they don’t pay much.
However, a number of private schools which had lost expat women teachers during the amnesty, are yet to hire Saudis to fill the vacancies. The private schools sector has been controlled by expats. A number of women pointed out that many private companies do not provide special areas which are essential for female staff to work without having to mingle with their male colleagues. Schools, on the other hand, offer proper work environment. Besides, working hours in schools also help them to take care of chores at home with their families.
“A lot of Saudi women have approached me seeking teaching jobs, but the main problem is that we are in the middle of the school year. And we have legalized our expat staff. We are, however, planing to hire more Saudi women who are qualified to work as teachers in the next academic year,” Hoda Assem, a Saudi woman who manages a private school in Jeddah, told Arab News.
“The main reason for unemployment among Saudi women who are qualified to work as teachers is that a large number of them prefer to work in schools. There are very few Saudi women who work in the business sector,” she added.
“I prefer to work in schools because the work timings allow me family time. Many private companies cannot provide a proper work environment and my family will not allow me to work in such places,” Ola Adnan, a Saudi woman who works as secretary in a private schools, said. Unemployment among Saudi women in the private sector increased by 2.3 percent in 2012, latest statistics released by the Ministry of Labor revealed. In 2011, there were around 302,000 unemployed Saudi women. That figure shot up to 358,000 in 2012, sources told a local daily.
An official source at the Ministry of Labor said the number of Saudis employed in the private sector was in excess of 1 million in 2012, while the overall unemployment rate dropped by 0.3 percent during 2012.


The number of workers in the private sector touched 8.5 million of whom 1.1 million were Saudi nationals. Unemployment rate stood at 12.4 percent in 2011 which dropped to 12.1 percent in 2012. The unemployment rate for males stood at 6.1 percent in 2012, while increasing to 35.7 percent among females.