Muhammad Mashat

Al-Madinah newspaper

Unemployment is the most dangerous problem any country can face. Look around the world and you will see even advanced countries struggling to reduce their rates of unemployment and to create job opportunities for their young people. The problem affects the unemployed and all of society. Unemployment among high school and college graduates in our country has been on the increase. What is worse is that young people who studied postgraduate courses abroad are also unemployed, an indication of how large the problem is.

According to the General Statistics Authority, there were 1.5 million people employed in the public sector in 2016. These individuals have a range of academic qualifications from graduate to postgraduate degrees. According to the General Organization of Social Insurance (GOSI), there were around 10 million subscribers in the private sector. Saudis account for 1.67 million or 17 percent of the total workforce while non-Saudis account for 8.31 million or 83 percent.

Based on these figures, we can say that the private sector can absorb this large number of unemployed people. We have a large number of expatriate workers (over eight million) in the private sector. However, we cannot replace all expatriate workers with Saudis due to several reasons, such as specialized knowledge, technical skills, social status, salaries, etc. There are also some social obstacles that make Saudis reluctant to take certain jobs.

The truth is that we need a realistic study that will help us identify the types of jobs that expatriates are now doing that Saudis can do. The study should focus on the most attractive private sector job positions to which Saudis can be appointed without affecting businesses and their profits.