Abdullah Khayyat

Okaz

The need to meet life's demands has forced Saudi women, especially widows, spinsters and divorcees, to look for jobs. Married women also look for jobs to help their husbands meet daily expenses, a task that has been very exhausting.



Women have the right to be employed after spending long years of their lives in education to serve themselves and their country. It is not conceivable that a woman spends 12 years in general education and five years in university, in addition to several years for post graduate studies, only to find herself finally sitting idle at home.



Statistics show us that the vast majority of Saudi women job seekers are highly qualified. Quoting employment experts, a local newspaper said more than 78 percent of unemployed Saudi women are holders of university degrees.



They said about 76 percent of jobless Saudi men are only holding secondary school certificates. The experts said the number of unemployed Saudi men and women has reached about half a million.



The experts were talking during the Career Day organized by Dar Al-Hekma College for Women in Jeddah, with more than 40 private companies participating to attract Saudi job seekers. They said the number of jobless men is 293,176, while unemployed women number 177,174. There are only 21,298 unemployed foreigners.



According to the statistics, foreigners occupy about 90 percent of available jobs in the private sector while about 500,000 Saudis, who represent about 10 percent of the number of the foreigners, are jobless.

This makes it imperative for private sector establishments to work together as a team to shoulder their social responsibility toward the Saudi citizens.



The dean of the college said the eighth Career Day was aimed at enabling private companies and establishments to offer jobs and training to qualified Saudi cadre to enter the labor market, which is highly competitive.