At a time when a new report by the International Labor Organization said that the rate of global unemployment among the youth was registering its highest levels, a new study issued by the Institute for Research in Economics in Zurich-Switzerland, revealed the increase of the savings of rich people in exchange for the accumulation of the debt of the poor, expecting the widening of the gap at the level of the income between both classes. The report of the International Labor Organization headlined “Global Employment Trends for Youth - 2010,” explained that among 620 million economically-active young people with ages ranging between 15 and 25, 81 million of them were unemployed at the end of 2009. This figure is the highest statistically and surpasses by 7.8 million the number of unemployed recorded in 2007. The report thus warned against the crisis of legacy of a “lost generation” made up of young people who detach themselves from the labor market altogether, frustrated and without any hope of securing a decent living. There is no doubt that the youth unemployment “crisis” has started escalating and that its rates increased on the global level following the financial crisis. However, the fact that it coincided with the expanding gap between the rich and the poor reveals the size of the international catastrophe and the seriousness of its future repercussions on the lives of the people. This urgently requires comprehensive solutions guaranteeing job opportunities for the youth, as well as the bridging of the gap that is continuously widening between the social classes, so that there is no great wealth facing absolute poverty (i.e. masters and slaves). There is a need to focus on comprehensive strategies combining plans and programs for education, training and rehabilitation to secure employment for the youth (both young men and women) and open job opportunities before them. This is especially true since young women face a harsher fate than young men when seeking employment. For example, the unemployment rate among young women in 2009 was of 13.2% in comparison with 12.9% in the ranks of young men. Moreover, women constitute the group that is the most affected by unemployment in most parts of the world, except in developed countries and European Union states. It is certain that the unemployment rates among the youth were affected by the economic threats caused by the global financial crisis and the social threats linked to the frustration felt toward the scarcity of proper and decent jobs. In this context, the report of the International Labor Organization said in 2008 that there were approximately 152 million young people or around 28% of the overall working youth around the world, who continued to suffer from acute poverty in families struggling to survive on less than $1.25 per day per capita. Therefore, you can only imagine how a young man earning one and a half dollars per day (i.e. one pound sterling or six Saudi riyals) can have a house, start a family and provide the requirements of a decent life for him and his family. Governments must become aware of the serious consequences of the ongoing unemployment among the youth, considering it could undermine security and social stability as these young people constitute an announced force for each community and a guarantee for its developmental future. As it is said in this context, “countries are only built with the arms and energies of the youth.” For example in Saudi Arabia, a country rich in oil wells and the biggest economy in the region, it was noticed – based on the last data – that the unemployment rate among the Saudis rose up to 10.5%. The general statistics and information authority also revealed that the unemployment rate rose due to the increase of the number of unemployed in the ranks of Saudis of both genders to around 448,000. However, something called for optimism following the issuance of a recent study pointing to the fact that the negative impact of global recession on unemployment patterns in the Middle East was about to decrease, indicating that more than half the Saudi companies – for example – were planning on hiring [new employees] during the third quarter of this year. Indeed, a study conducted by Bayt.com in collaboration with the “YouGov Siraj” research institution over the employment availability index, showed that over one quarter of those polled in Saudi Arabia and by a rate of 27%, assured that their companies will “definitely” start hiring in the next three months. It is certain that the governments must become aware of the youth's energy and interact with their dreams before they become “lost dreams” in the crisis of the so-called “legacy of a lost generation” and before they are turned by oppression, poverty and need into “poisonous” tools posing a real threat on the security, social, economic and political levels.
