New strategy to fight joblessness

JEDDAH — Deputy Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, minister of defense and chairman of the Council of Economic and Development Affairs (CEDA), has called for an integrated strategy to link education and training with the labor market so as to fight joblessness among Saudis. The Deputy Crown Prince has instructed the ministries concerned to prepare a strategy within three months, Minister of Labor and Social Development Ali Al-Ghafis was quoted as saying by Al-Madina Arabic daily on Sunday. “The strategy will focus on the technical and vocational aspects rather than the theoretical side of education,” the minister said. Al-Ghafis said his ministry will concentrate its efforts on reducing unemployment by extending full support to the Public Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises. According to the figures of the General Authority of Statistics (GAS), the rate of unemployment among Saudis in the third quarter of the current year was 12.1 percent. According to the Saudi Vision 2030, the rate of unemployment will come down to nine percent in 2020 and to seven percent in 2030. The strategy will aim at making a better use of the technical and vocational education which will further facilitate the nationalization of jobs, especially in the private sector. The Vision aims at further expanding the Saudization of jobs especially in the industrial and construction sectors. According to labor market specialists, there should be a plan to gradually replace expatriates with Saudis in the private sector. They also said that fake Saudization should be immediately stopped so as to reduce recruitment from outside. According to GAS, there are about 10.5 million expatriates living and working in the Kingdom while more than 700,000 Saudis are jobless. It said the unemployed Saudis who are looking for work are aged between 21-35 years of age. The General Authority of Statistics said that as many as 1.9 million work visas were issued last year to recruit foreign manpower.