Unemployment is a state of joblessness that takes different dimensions and forms. It begins from the time and individual starts looking for jobs relentlessly hopping into one office after another. It is a very dynamic concept that even incorporates the period between which a person dumps one job and when he or she secures another one. Saudi Arabia is one of the wealthiest nations in the Middle East with some of the world’s largest oil reserves. However, a greater percentage of her population is jobless. Some employees in Saudi Arabia receive low wages and are thus not satisfied with their jobs. This country has a lot of immigrants who work in non-skilled jobs in small-scale businesses and construction. Her private sector is highly occupied by foreigners. Currently, Saudi Arabia is experiencing an unemployment rate of approximately 10.5%.
Causes of unemployment
Job dissatisfaction is one the basic causes of unemployment in Saudi Arabia. Many people are in jobs that they are not happy with. This dissatisfaction may be a result is underutilization of skills that such workers gained during their training of due to mismatch of wages entered and the qualification. Workers may also be discontented with their jobs due to poor tittles at their work places. Most of the jobless persons in Saudi Arabia are victims of job dissatisfaction. They have pulled out of the labor market simply because the jobs they secure do not satisfy their payment satisfactions and work conditions. For any worker to gain substantive progress and growth in his or her job, he or she must first of all be part of that job. A worker’s positivity towards whatever he or she is doing.
Immigrant labor has taken over the local human resource in Saudi Arabia. Unlike the developed countries which restrict labor import, Saudi Arabia is a recipient of high numbers of foreign workers. Of these workers, many are unskilled and stream into odd and manual jobs. This results into two distinct labor market trends. The first trend comprises of Saudi Arabians who mainly occupy the few white collar government jobs. This category of workers also takes up a very big share in the highly regulated industries such financial services and oil and natural gas industries. However, this number is very slim owing to the fact that most Saudi Arabians do not have the adequate professional qualifications to serve in such high profile jobs. Only a few citizens can manage these positions. The second category is made up of unskilled foreigners who mainly dominate the low-skill and technical jobs which are also lowly remunerated and are accompanied by difficult working conditions. (Ramady 356)
Gender is another big issue that has enhanced unemployment in this country. Job placement is not equally distributed between male and female Saudis. Men are most favored by the Islamic culture that dominates the Saudi Arabian society. In real essence, women are victims of legislative, occupational, educational and social obstacles to full incorporation into the Saudi Arabian labor market. Currently, women make up to less than 15% of the total public and private human resource in Saudi Arabia. This is scaling quite very low on the general figures of the region. (Abdulaziz Al-Saud )
The poor quality of higher education in the country has been a worrying. Professional training programs that institutions of higher education are offering does not appeal to the Saudi Arabia’s labor market. This means that these institutions do not consider the societal economic needs and gaps. A good education system should aim at solving the problems faced by the society. However, things are different in Saudi Arabia and fresh graduates are always victims of rude shock as these institutions usher them into the labor market. This ends up in creating an artificial shortage in the labor market because graduates are available but with inappropriate skills that cannot fit in the Saudi Arabia’s economy. A survey from major Arab countries reveals that their educational standards fall way below the international professional thresholds. Anderson 2013, asserts that these countries still lag behind in the comparative assessment of international achievement of students. (Andersson and Abdelkader 211)
High population in the Saudi Arabian country is also another factor escalating unemployment rates in Saud Arabia. Young age population profile has lowered the Saudi Arabia’s labor participation rate. This implies that the young population that dominates the Saudi Arabia’s population is not yet in the job-seeking bracket. This population is very different from the people who are not employed but fall in the working age bracket. Such people can be said to be jobless since there are either voluntarily jobless or are victims of some economic forces which are beyond their control. In the Gulf Cooperation Council and the United States of America rankings, the Saudi Arabia labor participation rate ranks very low at about 35 percent. This statistics cuts across the female and the male labor participation. If the greater percentage of the Saudi Arabia’s population is not economically productive in the labor market then this country cannot consider her human resource base as stronger. The key implication of this is that this population is mainly the dependents of the foreign workers in Saudi Arabia who the law prohibits from joining the Saudi Arabia’s labor market. Besides, they are unskilled and their educational level is very low and are the most affected by the economic downturn. (Ghafour 31)
Poor working conditions and poor remuneration by the Saudi employers is enhancing unemployment. Many workers in Saudi Arabia are victims of low wages and poor working conditions. The average hours that an employee works for in a week does not correspond to the wages he or she receives. This is the basis of ascertaining good or bad working conditions of a particular job. Research shows that working hours in Saudi Arabia’s government jobs are proportionate to their earnings or wages. People having government job placements can only work for a maximum of 30 hours per week. This is professionally justifiable and encouraging and many employees would go for nothing less than it. Much over exploitation comes from the private sector which strains their workers potentials more than they reward them. One of the reasons that can back up this claim is that most private employers are profit maximisers and would tactfully scheme for maximum benefit. The persons who look forward into joining the private sectors are greatly discouraged by this situation and they would rather stay away jobless that sign into them. They look at such working conditions as difficult. (Andersson and Djeflat 212)
Effects of Unemployment
Generally, lack of adequate employment opportunities in any country is a big problem. It affects all the sectors of economy. It also waters down the need for professional training in that country. Person who are within the working age bracket yet are jobless are the most traumatized by unemployment.
Poverty is always an ally of unemployment in any nation which suffers this menace. When people live bellow one dollar a day, they are globally considered poor. Such people cannot cater for all their needs thus wade in poverty. Many Saudi Arabia’s citizens are falling within this category. Despite her rich and lucrative oil fields, the per capita income of her citizens is very low.
Unemployment leads to an increase in social injustice. Many idle yet trained youths are opting to violence and crime to survive. As the say goes that an idle mind is the devils workshop, these youths remain very idle and thus brew crime associated plans. Most of them end up into bank robbers, prostitutes, drug traffickers and pornographic artists and artistes. This implies that even the working class is not safe since there are the targets of these rowdy and jobless youths. They terrorize investors and rob them of their ventures. There has been many crime related issues that accrue from unemployment. Many people fallen victims of Saudi conmen, who unsuspectingly rob them of millions of dollars. These are what the jobless community in the Saudi Arabian economy resort to. (Ramady 380)
Solutions
One of the key tools that the Saudi government is adopting to curb this escalating rate of unemployment is the Saudinization. This operation aims at replacing the foreign labor force with the Saudi locals or other citizens. It is conducted through dual program that entails use of incentives to boost the morale of native human resource. The government is also backing up this effort with the restriction of visa issuance to the foreign workers who endeavor to stay and work in Saudi Arabia. This is a strategy that would ensure inclusive labor force in Saudi Arabia. However, it is worth noting that this is a long process which needs proper planning and excursion. As stated before, this foreign human resource is currently dominating the Saudi labor market and facing them out must require proper preparedness. It is quite remarkable that this is a strategy that is already on course and the government is committing its resources into it to ensure its success.
The second step towards the resolution of this problem is to refine and put the private sector under check and balance. It is quite clear that the government jobs cannot cater for the entire Saudi working age bracket. The private sector has a greater responsibility to play in the labor market. The government should therefore ensure that it control the private sector’s acquisition and maintenance of labor force. The private employers must ensure that they attract workers through creating good working conditions and terms of service. Many workers voluntarily choose to remain jobless due to the oppression that they get in the private sectors. If the government simply neglects their crucial responsibility to serve and protect its citizens, the private entrepreneurs would such the blood to the last drop. They are profit oriented and thus would over exploit their workers just but to earn maximum profits at lower production costs. Labor is therefore a major constituent of this production cost.
Another most important way of solving unemployment problem in Saudi Arabia is by changing the Saudi’s perception towards culture and work ethics. Young and fresh graduates should understand very what the labor market expect of them. They must appropriately apply and integrate the skills they have acquired to suit their job specifications and the market labor demands. The poor women participation in the Saudi labor market is also as a result of poor ethical practices. Ramady emphasizes that the government must only and directly involve women in the nation building to bridge the gap between men and women human resource. (Abdulaziz Al-Saud )
Saudi Arabia should adequately address her higher educational standards to meet the global professional standards. She should do a complete overhaul of her educational curriculum to suit the current trends in the labor market. There is no need of producing thousands of graduates who can barely fit in any job market. This is a big wastage. Again, higher education should be made affordable and accessible to ensure that this rich labor market gets enough professionals to serve it needs. Thorough research is very paramount in this issues and the Saudi government should commit herself into this. (Ghafour )
In conclusion, unemployment is a very big setback to every government. When a government is unable to provide enough jobs opportunities to its citizens then its governance is questionable. However, whenever a government is undergoing such economic setbacks it should immediately strategize to counteract the situation. Saudi Arabia’s immigration department should adopt firm regulations to control influx of foreign workers into this country.
Works Cited
Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud. “A Saudi Prince’s Plea for Reform.”
New York Times 24 February, 2011: Print.
Ghafour, Abdul. "Central Department of Statistics and Information, Ministry of Economy and
Planning; Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA)." Forty-Fourth Annual Report.
August 2008.
Otto, Jan Michiel. Sharia Incorporated: A Comparative Overview of the Legal Systems of
Twelve Muslim Countries in Past and Present. illustrated. Leiden: Amsterdam University
Press, 2010.
Ramady, Mohamed A. The Saudi Arabian Economy: Policies, Achievements, and Challenges. 2,
illustrated. New York: Springer, 2010.
Sara Hamdan. “Saudi Arabia to Fine Firms with Too Many Foreign Workers.” New York Times
21 November, 2012: Print.
Thomas Andersson and Abdelkader Djeflat. The Real Issues of the Middle East and the Arab
Spring. New York: Springer, 2013.
