The large number of unemployed young Saudis are evidence of the fact that jobs in the Kingdom are hard to find. Despite holding school certificates, whether they be primary, intermediate or secondary or even college degrees, the search for a job commensurate with one's education often ends in discouragement with the unemployed youth citing a variety of factors for their failure to find work. Fahd Ali, 25, said, “The Ministry of Labor and the labor offices in the Kingdom's different regions do not adequately supervise companies and the jobs they are offering. The labor offices merely receive job seekers and send them to companies with job openings. It is only then that the job seeker finds out what the work really entails. It sometimes turns out that what was advertised as an administrative position ends up with an expatriate manager using the new employee as a private driver for his home or the home of the owner of the company. As a result, the young men leave that kind of work and are reluctant to return to labor offices to find other job openings.” Another young Saudi, Saleh Al-Attiyah, said that it is important that the Ministry of Labor specify salaries for different types of employment and qualifications. He said, “I hold a primary school certificate, and I'm a part-time student in intermediate school and I work for 11 hours daily for a monthly salary of only SR1,500 as a truck driver.” He added, “Can anyone believe how companies exploit us in this manner? When we complain to the Labor Office, our services are terminated immediately. This is what happened to my colleagues in the same company. The Ministry of Labor specifies the minimum salary for a primary school certificate holder at SR2,000, and SR2,500 for an intermediate school certificate holder, so with transport and meals allowance we should reach SR3,500. If these were actually the minimum salaries, there would not be a single unemployed Saudi in all of the Kingdom's regions.” Mega projects Saad Al-Mattar, an unemployed young Saudi, is doubtful that the employment situation will change soon. He said, “We had great hopes when the establishment of the Commission for Industrial Cities was announced as well as the plans to make the Kingdom a major industrial country within the next ten years. But it now seems as though red tape bureaucracy might delay the appearance of these mega projects and that they will not be providing jobs to young people in the near future.” Fawaz Majed Al-Malki, 28, is an intermediate school certificate holder who ended his studies after the first year of secondary school. He said, “The plight of university graduates is cause for despair for those with less education, as the majority of university degree holders are currently unemployed.” He added, “I found a job eight months ago in a foodstuff factory in the industrial estate of Taif with a monthly salary of SR1,400. I used to work in two sessions – morning and evening. However, the salary deductions and lack of means of transport were the factors that forced me to leave the job before I had even finished three months.” The expatriate obstacle Khalid Al-Hazmi, 27, said, “I could not complete my secondary school education due to difficult family circumstances and I had to be content with an intermediate school certificate. For the past four years, I have tried to find a job, but all the doors were closed to me. I tried my best to find a job in government departments and private sector companies, but was told that an intermediate school certificate was not enough. Yet these same companies employ expatriate workers who have not completed their education in their country. These unqualified expatriates find jobs in our country while we search for jobs which we cannot find.” However, there are other young men who seem to be satisfied with their work. Muhammad Mansi Al-Ghamdi, for example, who has an intermediate school certificate, works as a cashier in a cafeteria. He is satisfied with his monthly salary of SR2,880 especially as he realizes that jobs are hard to find. He says that the work that he is doing is better than sitting at home. Asked how he got the job, Al-Ghamdi said he did not get the job with the help of any government department but through one of his father's friends. Problem lies in youths Salim Al-Zahrani, 28, feels that the problem lies in the youths themselves, their education level and the training they have received. He said, “There are young people who insist that they will only accept an office job. Most vocational work is done by non-Saudis because Saudis feel ashamed to do manual work. They are overwhelmed by the “shame culture”. However, there are young Saudis who will accept any job so long as it is decent. There are also others who realize that they have low qualifications, so they are ready to accept jobs commensurate with their level of education.” Insistence on a particular kind of work Abdullah Al-Harbi, 22, said that after he obtained a secondary school certificate, he started looking for a job. After knocking on all the doors and being unable to find work, he decided to work for himself. He started selling dates and from that day, he gave up his search for an office job because he knew that there were many university degree holders unable to find work. He decided that it was better to sell dates than to remain unemployed. Bandar Al-Hazmi, 30, said that many Saudi youths are interested in finding a job but that they really know very little about the culture of work. “There is a problem in that young people won't accept vocational jobs in industries or manual jobs due to their attitude that these are not quality jobs. This aggravates the problems a lot,” he said. On the other hand, there are uneducated expatriate workers who have somehow found jobs in the Kingdom. Milad Husein, for example, is a Bangladeshi who never completed his education in his country. He came to the Kingdom without worrying about the salary he would get. What concerned him was to find a job and earn a living. He admits that he was astonished at finding that young Saudis would not accept certain jobs under the pretext that they were menial. Government officials respond The Director of General Administration for the Joint Training Program of the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation (TVTC), Abdulrahman Bin Saeed Al-Suray'e, said joint training programs were designed to take into consideration the employment problems of holders of intermediate and primary degrees. The administration has introduced about 60 vocations adequate for them in the private sector. The problem facing the corporation, he said, is the availability of job opportunities in the private sector. Once the private sector announces available position for holders of public education degrees, the Joint Training Program will carry out its task, he added. Al-Suray'e said that the Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF) supports 50 percent of the salary of those who enroll in training programs and are hired by private establishments after completing their training. He pointed out that the corporation runs on-the-job training programs that end with employment and that these programs include those who hold less than a high school degree. To receive HRDF support, an establishment's contract with a trainee must stipulate a salary of no less than SR3,000, Al-Suray'e explained. The employment official at Makkah Region's Labor Office Muhammad Jalal said the office has various jobs for primary and intermediate degree holders but that there was little interest on the part of the unemployed in these jobs. The jobs include positions as security guards and administrative messengers. The Executive Director of Saudization at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Abed Al-Aqqad said the private sector wants to hire qualified persons and “We are coordinating with the Ministry of Labor and with joint training programs and some other bodies to organize five training-to-employment programs – three for males and two for females.” He noted that thousands were hired in the private sector through the past 19 programs. Asir Labor Office Director Sa'eed Aal Suhaim said the employment department receives hundreds of applications everyday and jobs are available. Large numbers of Saudis were hired, he said, adding that employment is supervised and companies that violate the nationalization policy are brought to account. The head of Taif Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Naif Bin Abdullah Al-Adwani, said the Chamber applies a mechanism to receive the requests of companies and factories and the applications of job seekers who are directed to certain jobs in coordination with the employer. Some employers request employees with intermediate or high school degrees while others request college graduates. It depends on the nature of the work in the requested position, Al
