Dubai: When Ahmad Mohammad, 25, graduated with a business degree last year from the American University of Sharjah, he was prepared for the harsh reality that awaited him.
He has both objectively studied the recession in an academic setting and experienced its reality first-hand. He has been hunting for an entry-level accounting job for almost a year. He speaks of unemployment in a practical, matter-of-fact way:
"It was not a big shock for me. I studied in the school of business, so when the crisis happened we were studying it and saw it in front of us," he said. "I saw people struggle with unemployment. When I graduated I expected this."
Mohammad is like many people his age. Although young, well-educated and eloquent, Mohammad's year-long job hunt has led him on a wild goose chase. There are barely any jobs and the few that are available require many years of experience, says the recent graduate. The Middle East's unemployment rate at almost 10.3 per cent is the highest in the world, figures from the International Labour Organisation showed earlier this year.
A recent study by Booz and Company reported that Saudi Arabia and the UAE had unemployment rates of 13 and 14 per cent in 2008. Nearly 10 per cent of Saudi Arabia's unemployed are under 19 years old; 48 per cent are between 20 to 24 years old; and 31 per cent are between 25 to 30 years old. This means that 89 per cent of Saudi Arabia's unemployed are younger than 30.
"I do expect to find work. I won't [always] be sitting like this, I will find something," he says, sounding as though he's trying to convince himself.
Still, Mohammad says, he is determined. He spends most of his days ploughing through a maze of online job applications.
Abu Faisal, 32, has been searching for a customer service job in retail banking for two years since he left his native Saudi Arabia — a country with the biggest youth bulge in the GCC. He said unemployment has left him with a deep sense of alienation.
"Unemployment feels like exile. You're not a part of the community, you lose that sense, like a stranger," he says. "There's no sense of belonging. When you work you find acceptance from society."
Faisal said he has had problems even applying for jobs. Offices discourage the ‘show up with a CV at the front door' approach, asking applicants to drop off their papers and leave, preventing them from talking to an HR officer. Retail and service industry stores here are not in the habit of posting ‘now hiring' signs on their windows as they do in the West.
"In Saudi Arabia I applied to [a] café that had ‘now hiring' signs," he said, adding when the manager saw he was a university graduate, he promised to find him a higher level job. "You have to start at the beginning because companies want to hire internally."
Misconception
He said he has also had to face the misconception that Gulf nationals are unwilling to do less glamorous jobs. "Not all khalijis [Gulf nationals] are rich…you only see the ones with fancy cars and they give the impression that all khalijis are rich."
Hessa T, 23, an Emirati with a masters in project management who declined to give her full name, says her nationality has been the main obstacle to finding a job. She says private companies have certain stereotypes about Emirati employees that discourage them from hiring them: they don't work hard, they expect high salaries, they want top positions and they cannot be sacked easily.
"They [companies] are not helping or encouraging us to be in the workplace. I feel they don't want us. The stereotype is so bad. A lot of Emiratis don't work, they just go there and say we're attending but there's a difference between attending and working and I don't blame the companies. But they can't stereotype and say we're all the same — because we're not," she insists.
The problem of unemployment among Emiratis is worsening, leading to a change in mentality. Now, they are willing to accept entry level jobs at relatively lower pay, she said.
"It's increasing way too much, especially because we're a new country. The new generation has now graduated and want to work but can't find employment. Several of my friends are the same, we can't find jobs easily and we're locals," she said. "They think we're expensive but I know bachelor grads who want to work for Dh13,000 or Dh14,000 and they are UAE nationals. Now because we can't find jobs easily things are changing."
Attitudes need to change
While the government is trying to solve the problem with various initiatives, it is not enough, the private sector's attitude towards Emiratis needs to change and Emiratis need to prove they can do it, she says.
"The [UAE] government is trying their best to help us. We can't blame them. I think it's our fault, we're not showing companies what we can do and when we are, its too late. They believe in negative perceptions about us."
Mohammad traces part of the problem to a mainstream mentality in Arab culture: "The problem is they all want to become engineers or doctors. They are proud of that, the parents are proud that...This is our problem, we all want to do the same jobs with the social status."
In his parents' generation, those who did not have an opportunity for education, simply went into farming or technical work. But this generation will not settle for less than professional, high-status jobs.
The months of searching have been taking their toll, Hessa said. She started her job hunt with enthusiasm, armed with a passion to help her country grow. "I was searching for a job that would help my family, myself and my country, to pay back some of what my country gave me but I can't do that."
After months of futile searching and unanswered job applications, she feels only despair.
"Such depression. It's unbelievable, I feel I'm jinxed...I was a bird ready to fly and then I got my wings crushed by reality."
Mohammad is more positive.
"There is hope in the future for sure. Twenty years ago no one could imagine that we could work from home by the internet. So you don't know what will happen in the future." But like a good businessman, he is investing his time in skills that could gain him better job prospects.
