A study prepared by the Labor ministry has showed that the unemployment rate among Saudi men and women in the past 15 years fluctuated up and down year after year, before reaching its peak at 12.4 percent three years ago.

According to the study, Saudis first became familiar with the term unemployment during the mid-nineties, when employment opportunities at government jobs decreased, and many private sector companies shied away from employing native citizens.

The ministry’s census also revealed that the unemployment rate was at about 11.2 percent in 2007, before it fell to 10 percent the following year. In 2012, the unemployment rate rose again to 12.1 percent, but declined to 11.7 in 2013.

At the early years of the new millennium, the ministry launched several attempts and initiatives to control and reduce the high unemployment rates, in addition to encouraging the private sector companies to employ Saudi nationals. However, despite its strict implementation, the ministry’s efforts to Saudize jobs across the Kingdom gained popular support at the time, but failed to achieve its objectives.

Two years ago, the ministry turned to the legislation when it issued strict laws to force private companies and institutions to recruit Saudi nationals and Saudi women through the Nitaqat system and setting a minimum wage of 3,000 riyals.

The ministry also reinforced its decisions by launching the “Sanid” program, in coordination with the General Organization of Social Insurance, to provide job security for Saudi men and women, among whom unemployment figures reached six percent and 33 percent, respectively.