Al-Jazirah An official report issued by the Ministry of Civil Service in June disclosed that more than 700,000 Saudis, including 149 holding doctoral degrees, were seeking jobs in the government sector. I still remember a former deputy minister telephoned me and told me the report was not correct even though the ministry in charge of employment had issued it. We feel deep pain when we understand that even Saudis holding doctoral degrees remain jobless. It is unfortunate that unemployment in our country has reached this gruesome level. I am sure nobody would believe that there are 8,000 master's degree holders among the jobless Saudis when more than 6,000 foreigners with similar qualifications teach in our universities. At the same time we hear the Labor Ministry's claims on Saudization of jobs in various sectors. What is the use of this Saudization program if it fails to employ holders of doctoral and master's degrees who are denied academic positions in our universities? Isn't this really strange? How sorrowful it is when we have about 9,000 jobless Saudis having doctoral and master's degrees while government universities employ 26,000 foreigners as lecturers. Why don't we replace these foreign workers with qualified Saudis? Yes, we have big dreams. We have also big hopes of generating more jobs for our young men and women. Apart from creating more jobs, I think we have to focus on Saudizing the existing jobs occupied by foreigners to make them the engine of the country's growth. We have to remember that the government has spent billions of riyals on educating Saudis and we have to make optimum use of them to accelerate the Kingdom's overall development. We have to explore ways and means to employ our young graduates and postgraduates before the country's unemployment problem gets worse. Thousands of Saudi students are returning to the Kingdom after completing higher studies at reputable international universities. The total number of scholarship students in foreign countries has reached 200,000. Their return is likely to worsen the prospect of employment for jobless Saudis who hold doctoral and master's degrees from local universities. The problem does not stop there. Saudis who have obtained doctoral and masters' degrees from local universities are denied academic jobs at government institutions of higher learning. These institutions ignore job applications by these qualified Saudis only because they prefer teachers from Arab countries. Our universities have spent billions of riyals to help these graduates complete their education and these students spent valuable time and energy to complete their studies. It is unfortunate that they have to sit among the jobless. The Kingdom suffers heavy losses at social and economic fronts because thousands of graduates and postgraduates remain unemployed as the country had spent huge amounts on their education and training and is unable to make use of their capabilities. Are we waiting for them to migrate to countries that offer them jobs, like many other Saudis who had left the Kingdom to work abroad in the past? We have to adopt a sound strategy to employ educated Saudis and prevent the brain drain. I hope the government would come up with effective programs to invest these young minds by employing them as they are the real resource of our country.
