Shaping a secure future

Saudi Arabia has the largest native population among all Gulf Cooperation Council countries and the highest percentage among total residents. A fast-growing population and falling oil prices can be an unpredictable combination especially if there are unemployed people louting about in the population pool. This is what the country has been seeking to address.

According to a 2013 United Nations World Prospects Report, Saudi population increased dramatically from less than 10 million inhabitants back in 1980 to approximately 30 million today. Some 65 per cent of the population is under the age of 25 according to various statistics floated around and a segment of that number remains idle.

Aware of the potential dangers, the late Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz had launched the Hafiz programme, which sets a monthly subsidy of 2,000 Saudi riyals (Dh1,958) to support and encourage serious job seekers. As of September 2014, some 2.6 million people, 14 per cent males and 86 per cent females, had benefited from the programme. In order to qualify for the allowance, jobseekers had to show that they were seriously looking for employment. The basic objective of this financial allowance is to help jobseekers land permanent and stable jobs and not rely on government subsidies as a source of income.

The programme was one of a group of incentives and schemes ordered by the late Saudi King to support job seekers. A massive higher education assistance boost through the King Abdullah Foreign Scholarship Programme in Saudi Arabia, which runs until 2020, has benefited more than 130,000 students who were funded by this programme to pursue higher studies in reputed universities in many countries.

The government has deported hundreds of thousands of undocumented foreign workers, which has helped in increasing the number of jobs available to Saudis. The country’s Labour Ministry has tightened rules for foreign labour in companies, insisting that they look towards the domestic market first. Along with the Ministry of Education, they have organised job fairs both domestically and internationally with major companies in the Kingdom plying their offers to fresh Saudi graduates. Those applicants with higher credentials are quickly picked up by major petro-chemical entities, but many others complain of being offered jobs far below their expectations.

There are other reasons why young Saudis remain unemployed or are unemployable. While there is an assortment of job openings in the country, many young Saudi job seekers lack the required qualifications and skills specified by employers. This is the result of an education system that has failed to realise the requirements of the job market.

Another factor for first-time job hunters is that employers in the private sector offer low salaries, jobs with inadequate security and unattractive compensation packages, while requiring long working hours. Employers also expect to receive from Saudi employees the same level of commitment they receive from foreign workers, without taking into consideration the social and economic pressures that Saudi employees bring with them to their work environment. A recent study conducted by the Human Resources Development Fund indicated that 45 per cent of young Saudis refused to work for private companies because of the attitude of employers.

The government cannot be in the business of absorbing all Saudi job seekers. It has turned to the private sector for help. Some business leaders have responded to the call. A businesswoman, Princess Basmah Bint Saud, a granddaughter of the founding King, recently called for mobilisation of local resources and uniting the efforts of public and private sectors to overcome this threat. “Businessmen can come up with solutions through developing plans that regulate the market and qualify the Saudi workforce all over the country. I’ve suggested this before and I’ll work on putting it into action in the future in order to contribute to solving the unemployment problem,” Princess Basmah said.

Dr Abdul Rahman Hayjan, a member of the Saudi Shura Council, said that unemployment should be treated in an innovative way “as the Kingdom is not an impoverished country that is facing budget problems”. “Our labour market needs to be regulated in a way that ends this problem permanently. The number of expatriate workers in our market makes one wonder whether we have a real unemployment problem like other countries or the problem lies in the fact that we have plenty of jobs, but our youth think they aren’t appropriate for them in terms of the nature of work and salary,” Hayjan said.

An economic expert, Dr Miqbel Al Sulami, believes that the problem of the Saudi market is two-fold. “First, most Saudis rely on the government sector to create jobs for them, while the private sector does not play any role in that. The problem is obvious and the results could be catastrophic in the future if the private sector does not start offering more opportunities to Saudis,” he explained.

Wherever the solutions lie, they must be seized upon with resolve. The region today is experiencing rising volatility. Calls by radical groups such as Daesh (the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) or other terrorist elements that once used to fall on deaf ears can now appear to be attractive to those with no meaningful profession or pursuit.

Tariq A. Al Maeena is a Saudi socio-political commentator. He lives in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.