I STRONGLY believe there is no real unemployment problem here in Saudi Arabia. What we have here is people searching for the perfect job and treating the job hunt as an option and not with any urgency. I understand that many people will say, yes we have an unemployment problem. I will agree with them and also say we have one if the job applicant is insisting on finding a government job. Here we have to differentiate between jobs in the government and private sectors. We have a cultural problem when it comes to work. Many job applicants see a government job as the first option and I do not know why it is on their top list. We should never compare government jobs with private positions. It is part of human nature to search for jobs where they do less and earn more. But we should not generalize because there are people who have initiative and ambitions to work hard and reach the top. Real unemployment means a person searches for a job and cannot find it because jobs do not exist. When a job applicant insists on a government job that is not there, then that cannot be equated to unemployment, especially when there is an abundance of jobs available in the private sector. A job applicant should learn that he or she should start small and grow from there. They should realize there is no job without effort. There is no good salary without hard work. In the private sector, a job applicant could start on wages as low as SR3,000 and reach up to SR30,000 or SR100,000. This is possible and happening in the private sector but will not be achieved without real effort and continuous hard work. Those who want government jobs have labeled themselves as unemployed. This job applicant insists on a certain government job knowing that the income return is low. This job applicant knows that the working hours are different from those in the private sector. In the private sector, it is not enough that a person complete his or her working hours because they will be asked if they achieved their targets. The private sector will demand productivity from the employee and likewise the employee will demand more from the private company. It is important to realize that there are many job opportunities available. A job applicant should not look for low paying jobs that do not match their abilities. A job applicant should not expect a high salary working as cashiers at commercial centers because each job has its own specification and value in the market. Our working culture is difficult because we, especially the young Saudis, are picky when it comes to jobs. This working culture should change. We should look at the youths in America and Europe where they work in every profession. We should not say that our country is rich because China, Japan and Korea are rich countries yet their youths are working in all professions, even small jobs, because that is their working culture. Our government is not responsible for paying money to those who are able to work or trying to pick the job they want when positions are available. We sympathize with women because there is a scarcity of jobs for them and their unemployment rate is more than 30 percent. They are suffering more, not young men.
