Several finance, labor and education ministers gathered in Riyadh on Monday evening at the start of the three-day Second Arab Forum for Development and Employment to discuss ways to find jobs for millions of Arabs in the region.

The forum’s theme, Towards Social Protection and Sustainable Development, comes as Arab unemployment rose to 16 percent, or 20 million people.

The Ministry of Labor tweeted on Monday that the participants would be looking at aligning training and education programs with labor market requirements.

Recent studies have confirmed a correlation between unemployed youth and the lack of sustainable development initiatives, which poses a threat to Arab governments.

Labor Minister Adel Fakeih said “an effective solution must be found for unemployment in the Arab world.”

He hoped the forum would produce recommendations to create jobs.

Keynote speaker Guy Ryder, director-general of the International Labor Organization (ILO), said the Saudi government has contributed significantly to the stability and growth of the labor market.

Ryder, who took office in 2012, said the Kingdom has created jobs for the country’s youth.

Saudi Arabia’s Central Department of Statistics and Information released data on Sunday showing the unemployment rate had dropped from 12 percent in 2012 to 11.7 percent in 2013 or 622,533 Saudis.

It showed that the work force totals 11.3 million people over the age of 18, making up 54 percent of the country’s population, with males accounting for over 9.5 million people.

According to the survey conducted in June 2013, there were over 10.7 million Saudi and non-Saudi working people in the Kingdom, accounting for 94.4 percent of the total labor force, with males forming 87 percent of this figure. There were 632,647 unemployed Saudis and non-Saudis, with males making up 42.3 percent of this total.

The total Saudi workforce consists of 5.3 million Saudis, including over 4.2 million males, or 79.6 percent of the total, the report said. There are 4.7 million male and female Saudis with jobs, or 88.3 percent of the national labor force. Saudi males accounted for over 3.9 million or 84.6 percent, while there were 622,533 unemployed Saudis, including 261,392 males.

Over 48 percent of the unemployed Saudi males and over 71 percent of the unemployed Saudi females were university graduates with bachelor’s degrees.

A total of 47.2 percent of unemployed Saudi males fell in the 20 to 24 age group, with 42 percent unemployed females within the 25 to 29 age group.

The report said that two thirds or 65.5 percent of employed Saudis were between 20 to 39 years of age. The report said that 98.6 percent of working Saudis were educated.