JEDDAH, 8 January 2003 — In its bid to alleviate the sufferings of thousands of jobless Saudi youths, the Manpower Council is considering the possibility of implementing a dole program for the unemployed, a newspaper reported yesterday.
According to Abdul Wahid Al-Humaid, secretary-general of the council, a decision on the payment of unemployment benefits to jobless youths would be taken after a detailed study of the issue, Al-Watan daily said.
According to an unofficial study, the number of unemployed in the Kingdom stood at 337,330, or 11.7 percent of a total work force of 2.89 million, at the end of 1999. The study estimated that an average of 163,000 youths might have entered the job market annually between 2000 and 2004.
It said the public sector generated 30,000 jobs for Saudi nationals in 2000 and 2001.
About 160,000 new jobs were created in all, but an estimated 166,000 people joined the ranks of the unemployed during the period.
According to another study, the unemployment rate in Saudi Arabia is as high as 27 percent, whereas the Manpower Council puts it at 14 percent and the Saudi American Bank at 15 percent.
Al-Humaid said the present study would focus mainly on the job market conditions in the Kingdom and the nature of unemployment in countries where the program has been implemented successfully. The council will also look into the reasons why the dole program failed in some countries.
The study will identify the financial sources for implementing the project. It will examine new ways to create jobs and the viability of levying a fee from the companies that do not employ Saudi nationals.
The Seventh Development Plan offers two main reasons for the unemployment problem.
The Seventh Development Plan cites the relatively high cost of Saudi manpower compared to foreign workers and the continuous influx of foreigners into the country as the two main reasons for rising unemployment in the Kingdom.
The number of foreign workers in the Kingdom increased by 1.5 percent over the Sixth Development Plan period despite the government’s efforts to minimize dependence on foreign work force.
According to the Manpower Council, the inadequate qualifications, reluctance to work in the private sector, poor communication skills in English, reluctance to change job locations and problems in laying-off Saudi workers are the major obstacles that stall the progress of Saudization process.
But the unofficial study cited by Al-Watan pinpointed another reason for Saudi youngsters’ failure to land suitable jobs.
The education and training system in the Kingdom, with half of the eight Saudi universities focusing solely on religious education, has failed to cater to the requirements of a growing economy. It said only 8.8 percent of Saudi youths graduate in engineering while 42.2 percent graduate in humanities and religious studies.
