In 1985, the government issued its famous decision number 50 aimed at curbing the recruitment of foreign manpower and imposing a special quota for Saudis in the private sector.
The government tried various means to cut down on foreign manpower, including a reluctance to grant working visas for certain professions, but its efforts did not succeed as the labor market was able to adapt to the changes and policies the Labor Ministry and other government departments tried to impose.
The government established the Human Resources Development Fund to help find jobs for citizens in private sector establishments. I believe the fund has succeeded during the past decade in supporting employment and training projects.
I am sure that every Saudi employed by the private sector during the past five years has been directly or indirectly supported by this fund.
Among the solutions proposed during the past few years but not accepted by decision makers included giving assistance to the unemployed to help them meet the costs of living until they find jobs.
About a year back, the Shoura council discussed this proposal, but the majority of members voted against it. Many columnists wrote about the issue, with some of them supporting the Shoura council. They claimed that the assistance would contribute to unemployment because jobless youths would live on the benefits and not bother to look for a job.
Some writers said the assistance would cost the government a lot of money and that once approved, the government could not rescind it.
In my opinion, these justifications are hypothetical and not logical. They were not based on a deep understanding of the same kind of policies that have succeeded in some other countries. It is the duty of any government to provide all its citizens with the means to live. It is a duty of the modern government to give financial aid to any citizen who is unemployed until he or she finds a job. The assistance will drive him or her to look seriously for employment. It will also save them from falling prey to extremism, drugs or crime.
This assistance to the unemployed will help us to have, for the first time, a database on the exact number of those unemployed and demographic and educational information.
Someone might ask what would happen after the assistance stops after six months or a year?
The answer lies in three possibilities.
Firstly, the unemployed youth might find a job during this time, or the Ministry of Labor will be able to direct him or her toward a certain private sector establishment.
Secondly, he or she will find training that will qualify them for new jobs.
Thirdly, if the young man or the young woman opts to stay home after the cessation of the assistance, then he or she cannot hold the government responsible for remaining unemployed in any way.
