Al-Jazirah

I HAVE repeatedly said in my articles that what keeps countries constantly worried is the increasing unemployment rates. A person working in a field that is not his specialization or less than his qualifications is not a problem. But the real problem is when a person wastes years of his life after graduating from the university without a job. As a result, he cannot build a house and or establish a family. This issue has hit the very depth of the society.

We spend on these youth in all their stages of education but we do not benefit from their potentials and capabilities. This means that we have incurred losses twice. First, by spending on their education for nearly 16 years. And second by not benefiting from them after educating them. Instead we recruit other workers from overseas countries to fill up many positions.

These graduates, in some specializations whether young men or women, are suffering due to unemployment since many years. Their problems have not been solved. They have not been employed — neither in their fields of specialization nor outside their fields. Nor has it been suggested to them to change their field of specialization so that it is in conformity with government and market needs.

It is illogical to waste such human resources like these graduates without benefiting from them, especially since our economy is growing in multiple directions. These include, for example, the industrial and tourism sectors.

Most of these graduates’ specializations are in the social and arts fields, like special education, art, kindergartens, literature, history and Arabic language, among others. The graduates, regardless of gender, do not find a job that suits their qualifications. Over the years, the number of unemployed university graduates has increased, thereby raising the unemployment rate in the Kingdom.

We have got to move fast and find jobs for them in their specializations or outside their fields of specialty and enable them to replace the millions of expatriates. We should find them jobs even if it is outside their specializations and even if they do not have the required experience. The on-job training could prove vital. The reason is that they will gain experience after working for several months.

This is not a mystery or puzzle, as most of our youth have the ability and readiness to learn and work. They are also ready to change their fields of specialization after taking specialist courses for several months. These new courses should be tailor-made to meet the labor market needs.

Today, the suffering of some people is no longer a secret that people are hiding. The social media are talking about many cases that ought to be dealt with fast. The real accomplishment is to find solutions and not to keep on promising. Such youths might become bored and lose hope. They are the mainstay of this nation and they are the majority. They form about 70 percent of the society.

Although their large number might appear to be a problem with regards providing for their needs and requirements. But from another perspective they are a great blessing and boon. Countries rise, grow and become prosperous with the strength and energy of their youth. This is on condition that their energy is not wasted. Their potential and capabilities should be tapped and benefited from.

The first objective that must be achieved with all determination is to reduce the unemployment rate and develop a new nation devoid of any green file. I am sure that we will succeed when we destroy the last green file (in an indication that unemployment can be tackled by getting rid of red tape bureaucracy and adopting a fast track system for training the youth and providing them jobs).