By Suhaila Zain Al-Abideen
ACCORDING to the Ministry of Labor, the unemployment rate for Saudi women ranged between 23 to 34 percent in 2014, while the unemployment rate for men was 6.2 percent. According to Al-Watan daily, the number of jobless female workers was 300,000 in 201, increasing to 385,000 in 2012. This figure includes 28,000 female teachers who graduated with a BA over 20 years ago but have not been officially appointed as teachers.
The reasons we have a higher percentage of jobless women can be attributed to the fact that the banking and telecommunications sectors do not offer women the same number of jobs that they offer to men. For every 10 branches run by men, there will be one run by women. The Ministry of Labor does not provide female college graduates, who account for the highest percentage of unemployed women, with suitable jobs.
Moreover, jobs available for women seem to be restricted to certain sectors such as education in which 87.4 percent of women work, followed by the public sector (6.2 percent), the health sector (4.8 percent) and the college education sector (1.6 percent). This means that the public sector absorbs the highest percentage of female workers (90 percent).
The best solution to female unemployment is to create job opportunities that suit the academic qualifications of female job seekers. Over 50,000 women graduate every year and search for jobs. The labor market cannot absorb this large number of job seekers in addition to male job seekers. Of course, reducing female unemployment should not come at the expense of men’s jobs. In other words, we should not reduce female unemployment while increasing male unemployment. The Ministry of Labor has focused on jobs at restaurants, fast-food eateries, stores, etc., to solve the problem of female unemployment. These jobs are not suitable for young Saudi women who have graduated with degrees in engineering, medicine, pharmacy, media, law and technology. We cannot say that we have a high women’s unemployment rate because some women do not want to do menial jobs.
The ministry should work with the concerned authorities to create new jobs for female workers and provide incentives to support small- and medium-scale businesses. Saudi men and women should be well prepared to meet labor market demands. College programs should keep up with the latest technology developments.
