THE National Anti-Corruption Commission (Nazaha) has come to the conclusion that stiff resistance from the private sector foiled serious ministerial attempts to employ Saudi youths, according to a local Arabic daily report. While criticizing the Ministry of Labor for failing to contain unemployment, Nazaha noted that the number of foreigners in the Kingdom's employment market is equal to those who leave on an exit visa. This shows that nothing has been achieved in addressing the unemployment problem and creating jobs for Saudis. The ministry and the private sector are equally responsible for this. But can we expect any solution for this problem from them? The private sector, which is only keen to serve its own interests and increase profits, is not ready to employ Saudi workers at a time when there are plenty of foreigners available in the labor market who are willing to work at far less remuneration. Foreigners who are leaving the Kingdom are being replaced by an equal number of foreigners arriving in the Kingdom. As for Saudi employees, they have many social and family obligations to fulfill, and therefore, they do not have enough time to hold full time jobs like most foreigners can. As far as the ministry is concerned, what it produced is the Nitaqat Saudization program. This program not only failed to solve a single problem Saudis have; instead it created new problems. Most important of them is the practice of bogus employment of Saudis in the private sector. Some members of the Shoura Council have noted that Nitaqat has created false Saudization. Some private companies are playing with the Nitaqat system by claiming that they have achieved the required percentage of Saudization when in fact the so-called Saudi employees only exist on paper.
