The Ministry of Labor is in the process of issuing a list of all unemployed Saudis who have turned down offers of employment for no apparent reason. The list will also detail the privileges which government agencies had provided to the uncooperative jobseekers in form of training, financial aid and other incentives, said Ahmad Al-Humaidan, undersecretary for Labor Affairs at the Ministry. Following the implementation of a series of programs aimed at accelerating the Saudization process such as Nitaqat, Hafiz and the Human Resources Development Fund, the ministry will publish a list of Saudis whom the ministry finds not interested in gainful employment. This will also allow the Ministry of Labor to exclude them from the count of the actual number of unemployed Saudis who have qualifications and are in the hunt for a job. According to sources at the Ministry of Labor, the total number of the unemployed Saudis in the Kingdom in the first quarter of the current year stood at 1.1 million male and female Saudis representing a sizeable percentage of the total population. The ratio of expatriates to Saudis in the private sector is a whopping 9 to1 with the total number of foreign workers in excess of eight million. The sources also added that the latest statistics for those receiving government stipends reflects an increase in the number of unemployed female Saudis pointing out that 78 percent of Saudi female degree holders are unemployed. The statistics also indicate an increase in the rate of the unemployment among the Saudi women as is compared to Saudi men. They constitute 80 percent of the total number of those who receive financial aid. Also, the ministry is considering the issuing of a black list for Saudi females receiving Hafiz benefits and not showing an inclination to work. The next step would be to drop them from the program following their unwillingness to seek employment. The employment opportunities are continuously updated at the Hafiz web site (www.hafiz.gov.sa).
