Al-Jazirah

UNEMPLOYMENT is one of the major indicators that impact economy of any country. It speaks about the economic growth and planning and has security and political dimensions. But for us Saudis every issue has a different dimension relating to our social, economic and cultural transformations and even our understanding of the religion. This is our strange specialty.

A news bulletin issued by the General Statistics Authority on job market situation for the first quarter of this year gives indicators to the Kingdom’s decision-makers and policymakers, especially those who are concerned with manpower. It will contribute to preparing a database about the labor market and prepare future social and economic development programs.

It will also support Vision 2030 and beyond. The authority publishes the bulletin after every four months. The bulletin for the first quarter of 2017 showed that the total number of workers reached 13,889,137 against 13,944,732 in the fourth quarter of 2016 from the total Saudi population of 30 million.

Official figures indicate that the total number of Saudi jobseekers has reached 906,552, in media language about one million, with men accounting for 219,017 and women numbering 687,535. The figure is not comfortable for the Kingdom’s employment planners. However, it highlighted that the Kingdom’s women wanted to double their participation in the development process and earn a living for their families by engaging in various jobs that suit their nature and skills.

The statistics also give glad tidings that women are not prevented from jobs like before and this shows the society’s continuous progress. The number of employed women in the Kingdom is on the increase. The majority of Saudi jobseekers were in the age group of 25-29, which represents the largest part of the Saudi population. These young Saudi men and women, who have completed their under graduate and post-graduate studies, account for 34.8 percent of the population.

Another important fact is that about half of jobless Saudis (50.3 percent) hold university degrees. This is quite depressing for Saudi education managers as it reflects the wide divide between education and job market and they have utterly failed to narrow this divide and review academic programs in line with the Kingdom’s developmental and job market requirements.

About half of the Kingdom’s university graduates do not get jobs because they have specialized in subjects that do not have any relevance in the job market. Unemployment rate in the Kingdom compare to its population is around 15 percent or more in light of the authority’s first quarter report (12.7 percent), which is 7.2 percent among men and 33 percent among women.

These figures indicate that we face a big challenge in terms of solving the unemployment problem. We should blame the poor education system for the problem to a great extent as our graduates are not qualified enough to meet job market requirements. I believe that our future plans and the Vision 2030 should address this issue by taking necessary corrective measures.

The conservative structure of our educational and training institutions does not augur well and I am doubtful about its ability to meet the requirements of our future generations. Even though the Vision 2030 initiated by Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, deputy premier and minister of defense, makes us proud I believe that it should make serious efforts to narrow the difference between the Kingdom’s education system and job market requirements. At present 50 percent of the Kingdom’s academic programs is a failure, which is highly disappointing to education authorities.

The global labor market is changing rapidly and will not show mercy toward those who have employed and those seeking job, even though the state being the largest employer provides jobs to millions. This situation may not last long and will worsen the crisis. We are now witnessing speedy change in manpower requirement, training and qualification of workers. Even the private sector finds it difficult to manage, let alone the public sector, which is not that vital and responsive.

We have in computer science graduates, who were unable to find jobs, a clear lesson on the enormity of changes in the labor market and the failure of policy makers in predicting such changes.