“The ministry has checked its database, which contains the list of people looking for jobs and the statement concerning the manpower situation for 2008 and 2009 issued by the General Statistical Department, and could not find a single case of unemployed women Ph.D. holders. This means none of the women Ph.D. holders is unemployed. Furthermore, opportunities are open for job seekers, including women, under the Online Employment Project recently inaugurated by the ministry. There are also opportunities for those looking for new jobs,” said Hattab Al-Anazi, a spokesman at the ministry in a statement after the publication of the study.
The ministry can deny the presence of unemployed research degree holders in its records. But it does not mean that such unemployed women do not exist in the Kingdom. The ministry’s records do not have the actual number of highly educated unemployed women sitting in their homes in villages and towns and even in cities across the country. I wish the ministry would open a website exclusively for contacting unemployed women doctorate holders. If it did so, then its denial would be realistic and credible.
Abu Abdullah said: “The Ministry of Labor did not deny the increase in female unemployment, particularly when girl students have been forced to choose programs that are unwanted in the job market.
“In fact youths doing unwanted courses is a catastrophe. Nevertheless, the Ministry of Higher Education still insists on supporting the faculties that produce graduates who are not wanted in the job market. This is a situation that leads to burdening the country with unwanted skills and manpower.”
