FOR a long time, the unemployment has been a time bomb but presently it has snowballed when another bomb has been added to it. This new bomb is called "dismissing of employees without justifications". The ministries of planning and labor have been talking extensively about the private sector absorbing a huge number of fresh graduates. The issue has been reversed with the private sector dismissing thousands of its employees it had absorbed. The private sector was prompted to take this step by two new developments: the belt-tightening that followed the drop in oil revenues and the amendment of some articles in the labor law enabling the employers to kick out any Saudi employee for no obvious reason paying a small financial compensation. This, in my view, is a dumb decision at the national level presented by the Ministry of Labor and the Shoura Council. The companies are now retrenching their employees to reduce expenditure. They use the money they save from sacking these employees in hiring less costly workers. The end result will have serious negative implications on the labor market. The government should step in quickly to correct the situation as it is responsible for all its citizens, whether employed or unemployed.
