Introduction
Unemployment puts a bad taste in the thoughts of everybody who is affected directly or indirectly by it. No one government has been fully able to tame unemployment. The reasons to unemployment vary from one country to another. Besides, the approaches that each country may employ in the struggle to address unemployment may also vary. Cultural, social and religious and or economic causes the immediate variables that distinguish each country’s unemployment state.
Although these could be the differences, unemployment basically has a general definition, with its impacts almost the same across all the nations involved. This problem solution research is aimed looking into the unemployment situation in Saud Arabia. The research will focus on unemployment on a general perspective in Saudi Arabia while narrowing down, partially to focus on unemployment of women in the country.
Literature review
Unemployment situation in Saudi Arabia has drawn much attention in the recent years. It has come to be appreciated as a factor that oils the occurrence of social unrest in the region as put by Bosbait and Wilson, (2005). Much effort has been in place to from the government of Saudi Arabia in order to address the question of unemployment despite the fact that the nation is full of vast deposits of crude oil. The country is one of the leading nations in oil production on a world ranking scale.
Unemployment data provided by the government for the year 2002 showed that the overall unemployment for all gender was pegged at 6.1%, with Saudi male unemployment figure estimated at 8.1% while female unemployment was at 15.8 per cent, almost twice the male unemployment figure (Niblock, 2006. Pp. 115). However, the figures provided above are a small representation since they do not the expanse population of Saudi (Niblock, 2006, pp 116).
The lack representation of this information has its roots in the culture of Saudi as a nation, thus leading to unaccountability of the real number of women in the labor force it is asserted that the effect of culture exerts a substantial impact on human resource management practices in Saudi Arabia. With respect to this, Budhwar and Debra, (2001, p.143) posited that cultural values and social attitudes to work and management are absolutely different from those practiced in the western world especially their European neighbors.
Additionally, they lay a further emphasis on tribal and family values. Religion has had a big influence on the employment of women in Saudi Arabia. For this reason, Budhwar and Debra, (2001, pp 143) established that this is a big counter-effect to the employment of women contrary to the fact the government of Saudi Arabia has of late invested substantially in education and training of women.
On the other hand, there is a view that the policy designed by the State personnel in Saudi Arabia has a bias towards sex segregation in education and to a great extend gave a rebirth to older familial relations that give a raw deal to a woman’s employability, despite skill being present to a woman being in question (Moghadam, V.M., 2003, pp 65).
Unemployment in Saudi Arabia is not only a core factor of social and unemployment- related crimes but also an awakening to the government’s overdependence on the expatriates for foreign labor (Cordesman, A.H., 2003, P. 22).
The high number of foreign workers is an attribute that characterizes Middle Eastern countries including Saudi Arabia. This is especially notable in the foreign sectors of these countries. This has undermined the employment efforts by the Saudi government in providing a balance between creations of employment opportunities for Saudi citizens.
Statistical data for Saudi Arabia for instance show that its private sector have about one fourth of Saudi population working as foreign expatriates in the private sector (Maisel &Shoup, 2009.p. 439). Regarding employment, Wilson (2004, p. 94), wrote that issues that affect employment have a complex nature, more so, when societies that are undergoing a spontaneous change like the Saudi Arabian situation.
He further notes that, reduction of unemployment by creation of jobs Saudi way is just a means to meet ends in the short term, which has an undermining result to the labor market. A good remedy to the unemployment situation in Saudi Arabia, as suggested by Wilson (2004, p 94), should help build capacity to the economy of the Saudi government rather than just being viewed as a means of reducing social unrest that come along with unemployment. Unemployment has had a profound effect on the education of a girl-child in Saudi Arabia.
Despite its introduction, there has been a slow progress in the labor market competitiveness of females. There is a big gap in equal opportunity between male and female. On this, Rao, (2004, p. 265), observed that the policy of female education presents discouraging impacts on the learning process of a girl-child. The effects are more notable when the level of education. The effect is more pronounced by the restrictions barring women to live alone in residential campuses, in the country.
Accomplishment of diversity especially with the use of vocational education has not been harnessed. This part of education is so limited that the only notable profession that has shown recent signs of adopting it in its system is the school of nursing. There has also been a question of high youth unemployment rates in Saudi Arabia. In the recent years, Saudi Arabia has prospered due to oil deposits, but youth unemployment still remains a challenge for the Saudi government to solve (Bowen, 2008., p. 129).
Definition of the problem
Unemployment is not only a problem facing Saudi Arabia as a government, but it is spread almost all over the world. Difference in the impacts resulting from unemployment is the type of world one belongs, which is third of the first world. Although, unemployment affects a particular question, we may be interested to investigate if it is spread evenly across a population or there exist a segment of the population that is affected most.
Besides, there may evidence of unemployment rampant to some gender. The above knowledge presents a road map to investigate unemployment in Saudi Arabia. Students graduating from institutions of higher learning comes to labor markets with infinite ambitions of securing white-collar jobs in their mother countries or in foreign countries.
A government like Saudi Arabia is endowed with vast deposits of “black gold” but it has unemployment so high that, despite its efforts to curb the effects, little change has been noticed. Locals attain education to higher levels, but they are not employable in their own country. Saudi Arabia has high numbers of foreigners as employees in its private sector; does it have implications that it has locally made labor market, does not favor the absorption of force?
Factors such as religion and culture are suspect causes of unemployment. Although they may not be directly associated with unemployment, perceptions of culture and religion by communities are direct hindrances to education of some segments of Saudi Arabia’s population-gender. Gender to this extend is brought to focus. Access to formal education may be impeded by radicalism and sectarian beliefs directed to some marginalized groups-women.
To address such like misconceptions, Saudi Arabia put in place policies to help female gender access a formal education. Nevertheless, this was not enough a solution because the problem still exists. As a consequence, it is questionable as to who was the policy-maker; instead of providing a solution, he only ended up affecting the learning process of females.
Female unemployment
Female unemployment is still a nightmare in the Arab world, especially, Saudi Arabia. The society is male dominated. Important positions are dominated by males both in the private and public sector. The cause of lies in three causes; religion and social setting; culture and education policy. Many societies in the western world adopted women in their workforce earlier than most of the third world societies which are still struggling with a culture miasma.
Culture in a country like Saudi Arabia is like a grave to burry employment of women alive. In the first place, strict rules still exist that dictates the social conduct of men and women. A society which has a man as an absolute leader in the family affairs, public place appearance and schooling levels, marginalizes the progress of females in matters of national economic building and well being of a country.
For a woman in Saudi Arabia, modernization is just a dream both awake and a sleep. Statics on employment/unemployment shows a great imbalance to equal opportunities between males and females in all sectors in Saudi Arabia. Education reforms were enacted into the government system in Saudi Arabia, in 1960. However, the system lacks freedom because the education sector is still under the control religious leaders in Saudi Arabia.
The competitiveness of a woman in the labor market is low as compared. Statistical data show that as late as 2002, unemployment stood at 8.1% on the overall. Gender wise, male unemployment was estimated at 6.8% while female unemployment was recorded to be standing at 15.8 % (Niblock, 2006, p. 115) as shown in chart 5.14 in the appendix. Assuming a high reliability of this figures, there is prove of inequality or gender imbalance to the access of education and employment.
It is alleged that education policy is a disguise of old familial and tribal practices that do not favor substantial education of females. Education of women in Saudi Arabia exposes a woman to a basic education that only takes her back domestic duties. Even if, they attain a university education; there are limited employment opportunities in the sex- segregated environments.
Sex segregation begins from secondary schools to higher institutions of learning like colleges and universities. Girls are not taught by male teachers, but only female teachers, sometimes scarcities hit these female institutions, but male teachers are not hired as a remedy for this scarcity.
There is also a general trend in the selection of courses at higher levels of learning. Most students are likely to select conservative studies like history and Islamic studies. This limits their competitive advantage on the job market. One reason this limits their competitiveness is that, in the modern information world, there are little chances that one will get a white collar job in a world where science and technical skills are required.
At present, women are restricted to work in places like where there are can very easily interact with other male clients. Customs in Saudi Arabia dictate that this is an embarrassment both to the female and the client.
As a result, most female employees in such places as banks are more likely to be employed for back office duties, even if with a reputable university. Besides, there is no clear work-family policy to give opportunities to women to balance between work and family commitments at home. Most of them are more likely to lose employment due maternity.
Saudi Arabia should still address this problem for the rates of female unemployment are not favorable. The place of a woman in the job market is, therefore, a big puzzle to solve. Education of the female has a slow progress almost five decades education of women was accepted in the 1960s. Like western cultures, a woman must be given freedom, and her skills harnessed in order to build capacity in the economy of Saudi Arabia.
Research questions
In the light of the problem above, research questions will be distributed for males and females. The ones that are directly dealt with here shall be for the males while those pertaining to women/female unemployment shall be referred to in appendix 1.
- What are the social, religious, cultural and economic causes of unemployment in Saudi Arabia?
- Is the education policy hindering the production of graduates well suited for the job market in Saudi Arabia?
- What are the impacts of foreign expatriates to youth employment in Saudi Arabia?
- What are the work-family policy bottlenecks that hinder flexibility in balancing between work and family obligations?
- How is the government effort of replacing foreign labor with locals in Saudi Arabia suitable in solving long-term unemployment in Saudi Arabia?
- What are the negative and positive impacts of unemployment to the economy of Saudi Arabia?
Research methodology
Data collection
This research will employ both primary and secondary data collection process. Secondary data collection process shall employ usage of data the usage of already store statistical data on the unemployment situation in Saudi Arabia particularly in the 21st century. Caution will be taken during the data collection process by secondary means. To ensure that secondary data used is valid, the following aspects shall be considered.
Sufficiency
Adequacy of secondary data to use shall be considered to question the applicability of the collected secondary data to the current research situation. Any inadequacies in the secondary data will render insufficient and unsuitable to be used in the current research. Secondary data will also be employed based on its reduced bias if there is the difference in scope of research today and before.
Appropriateness
Appropriateness will be considered to investigate if the data used in the former research fits the current research situation. Inappropriate data will not be employed in this current situation.
Emphasis will be accorded to the way the primary data was compiled. This will look into the way some of the terms used were defined; was there any theories employed in the extraction of the data from their parent primary sources? Are there any changes or differences in the object, environment and spectrum of the initial knowledge claim? If changes are encountered, the data will be rendered unfit for incorporation into the current research.
Data dependability
Data used in the project was tested for its reliability as for the person who carried out the research, the sources that these data were obtained from, the methods employed during the collection of the data, the former accuracy degree, the attainment of the intended degree and possible biases during data compilation.
Data collection will involve usage questionnaires for primary data collection. Since this is a qualitative research process, total of 300 questionnaires will be distributed to the participants across selected institutions in Saudi Arabia. The target group of participants will be sampled from the population using simple random sampling technique. The groups to be investigated will comprise of three potential categories: university students, unemployed, and those in employment.
Of the employed and unemployed, the category would be subdivided further to investigate the proportion of gender for the two categories. Since there are three categories of intended respondents, there will be 100 hundred questionnaires distributed for each group. For the category of employed and unemployed, some level stratification of the sample was employed to distinguish between those in employment on the basis of gender.
Some considerations were made during the administration of the questionnaires. These were ethical considerations on the part of the participants. They were assured of anonymity in the study; thus there was no place on the questionnaire requesting them to sign or write a name. As a result, this was a tool to raise the validity and confidence in the data collected from our respondents.
Out of the three hundred questionnaires, we shall have an analysis of the proportion of male and female respondents to determine the highest. Besides, there will also be age grouping that is 18-20, 21-23 and 24-26. Since there is knowledge claim that there is a high proportion of males in the higher institutions of learning than there are females, we shall also investigate the proportion of female respondents from the questionnaires.
This will be carried out by investigating the gender age group response of those aged between 18-20 years. This group will be chosen as an indicator based on the allegation that if early on in the course of education there was some dropping out of school of females, then the proportion will show up in the remnant. This age limit is also chosen because most of them will still be in school having not attained an employment chance due to the fact that they will probably be still in school.
There is knowledge claim that dropping out of secondary level decreases the chances of getting employed. On the contrary, graduates also find it difficult to secure employment – in high paying positions either in the government institutions or private sector. To investigate this, we will analyze the age group of 24-26 years for the proportion of those in employment and that, not in employment.
This age group will be chosen since it is the time most of them shall have completed school at tertiary levels of learning if any. Besides, at this age, most of them shall be arranging to marry or shall have already married. Marital status shall be included at this stage as it has been found that most unemployed youth in Saudi Arabia are more likely not be married at the stated age because most of them do not afford the costs associated with marriage.
To investigate the effects of religion, society and culture, questions will be deliberately administered based on gender. This will employ interviews with a randomly chosen sample of female and male respondents from Saudi Arabia. We shall target the educated and married women but males will be included at all levels. The reason for this approach is that married women are more likely to be unemployed despite the fact that they have education sufficient enough to enable them secure employment.
The aim of this is to investigate the truth in the claim that religion and culture undermines the status of a woman in society to undertake work positions that have long been held by males. Besides, this choice on investigation method would allow us to investigate the extent of the effect work-family policy in the Saudi Arabian government. We shall investigate females married and employed, unemployed due to family responsibilities and unemployed due to replacement after maternity leave.
Secondary data shall come in use particularly in the provision of data pertaining to foreign labor force in the labor markets of Saudi Arabia. Data from these sources will used to provide insights into the general trends concerning the salaries paid to foreigners, and their representation in the lour force the period of 2000 to 2010.
However, a glance shall also be given to foreign labor force trends for years before the period above. Table 1 in the appendix section will supply this information followed by an analysis using graphs 1, also located in the appendix section.
Analysis of survey answers for women
The questions targeted women’s employment and education. The perspectives that were given to this approach were the influence of culture, religion and the social setting of Saudi Arabia. On the aspect of culture, most respondents expressed a dislike of the impacts of culture especially when combined with religious interpretations concerning a woman in Islam.
Most of their answers expressed a concern of change in the cultural practices like sex segregation at places of work in order to create equal opportunities for employment of both men and female. Furthermore, on the same issue of sex segregation, schools should be given freedom of mixing both sexes at all levels instead of creating a separation in terms of students and teachers.
Most blamed the policy of education in Saudi Arabia that they claimed marginalizes the learning process of females in institutions of learning. There is a general distaste among women in Saudi Arabia concerning the dominance of males in all institutions of learning and as well as home setting. This they expressed in view familial and traditional values that they felt are subject to abolishment
With respect to work family policy, almost 95% of the respondents disagreed with the current policy which does not favor formal maternity leave for women. They expressed their heartfelt concern that most women are likely to lose employment in the event of application of maternity leave.
On the same note, most of them aired their concern at the lack of absorption of a part time work system that will solve the work-family imbalances that do exist. Alluding to the western style of part time arrangement that permits even women to work at odd hours of the night, the women wished that restrictions should lifted to create room for a Saudi woman to make decisions(work related decisions) that would fully absorb a Saudi woman into the economic circles of the nation.
In the light of women graduate women taking up conservative subjects like history and religion as opposed to sciences and technical subjects, the response shows that they do not make the decision willingly but they do so with a mind that even if they take the subjects, they end up marginalized in employment, being relegated to near casual work and back office chores in promising institutions like banking institutions.
Generally, there is a genera disagreement to the education system, chances of employment for women as compared to men and the cultural implications of the position of a woman in Saudi Arabian society at large.
Solutions to the problem
Solutions to the unemployment problem in Saudi Arabia can be categorized as those that can take long period and those that can take a shorter. The long term solutions are directed at economic reforms. Owing to the fact that much of revenue for the country comes from oil, long term-economic reforms should geared towards macroeconomic management reforms. This is just an introductory note. To begin with, long term solutions are as shown below.
Long – term solutions
One of the causes of unemployment in Saudi Arabia emerging from the research process is that there is a sizable proportion of foreign workers in Saudi Arabia’s labor market. Chart 5.7 in the appendix shows that a greater percentage of the nation’s Per-capita income comes from outside the population. This has for a long time constituted frictional unemployment as a result of regional immobility of the labor markets.
As a means to reform this, the Saudi government must device a model to replace up to about 75% of the foreign labor force with the locals. The reason behind not fully replacing the foreign labor with local one is because we are seeking to resolve the unemployment in the long term. Due to challenges in the education sector in Saudi Arabia, the country may lack a matched replacement for foreign workers with locals.
The 75% percent level should not be replaced by causing a dismissal of a foreign worker but it should be an international system, where, local workers work alongside foreign workers in order to transfer skill and knowledge from the more experienced foreign worker to the local. With time, the foreigner shall be replaced fully by the local worker.
This process should not just be left to take a natural course, but should be triggered by the government through devising a functional implementation commission composed of professionals sourced locally and consultancy services of foreign experts.
In the light of integration of locals into the labor force, the government policy should also reform the private sector so that a faire Wage and salary is paid to the locals to mitigate a high – salary levels of expatriates which are a source of frequent unrest related to unemployment. Although, the system of increasing salaries for local workers will come with an associated cost, the government of Saudi Arabia should nevertheless enforce the implementation of this policy (Ramady, 2005).
Secondly, reforms in the educational sector should be adopted as a long – term remedy to unemployment. These reforms must be geared to improve the numbers and quality of education being offered to meet the demands of the labor market, not just for literacy. In order to improve on the number of students graduating from colleges and other university levels of learning (oxford business group, 2009. P 213).
Increased spending by the government through allocation of sizable amounts for the education sector can act as a good stimulus for these reforms. Education infrastructure building is also one other way of introducing reforms in the sector.
New additional colleges, universities and technical institutions should be established to act as knowledge reservoir for the country. The needs should not be limited for the creation of force that satisfies the local market a lone but also developing skill which is marketable on the international, if not global level. That is creation of a surplus labor forces.
Thirdly, another long – term solution to the unemployment would be to address the sex segregation problem facing Saudi Arabia. This particular problem is faced particularly by women both in schools and public places of work (Petmesidou et al. 2006). The school impact is at all levels of learning especially at tertiary institutions of learning.
In schools, there is segregation female and male gender even in classrooms. This has a big impact on the education a girl child as it relegates the status of a woman both socially and academically. By so doing, accessibility of a woman to formal education is limited. In fact, it is not only accessibility but also access to marketable courses in tertiary institutions of learning in Saudi Arabia.
A woman thus has limited right of choice due to male dominance hidden in a veil of preservation of religious values only to impede women from participating in a fair learning process. To address this, the government of Saudi Arabia should not look at the surface value of sex segregation but should, to a greater extent, resolve the effects on this on the labor market if a woman is included. Western systems have proofed beyond doubt that a woman can contribute as a man to economic development of a country.
The solution of this should not be pegged in the name of “addressing sex segregation” but total abolishment. This has a lasting effect to the economy by providing employment chances to a woman; not only in the back – office positions but also in any public places skill is required (Arya, & Roy, 2006).
Population growth control
Population growth is a blessing is a blessing in disguise in that it identifies people of Saudi Arabia. However, the population of Saudi Arabia has statistically been found to be the fastest growing in the region. If the population growth is controlled, provision of basic amenities by the government will present Saudi with problems of control.
Besides, lack of population control may mean that many people graduate from colleges but may end unemployed due to lack of institutions to absorb the graduates. Consequently, population control is a means to curb associated future unemployment issues facing Saudi Arabia.
Short – term solutions
The short-term solutions to unemployment in Saudi Arabia should be employed in order to solve the unemployment problem aimed at engaging the youth in activities that can help them in the creation of self employment. One way of perpetuating unemployment is through over reliance of employment in the private sector or in the civil service of any given country owing to the nature of competition in the job market, there exists likelihood that not all people with a required skill will be employed by the same employer.
However, one way of solving this is through the creation of small and medium scale enterprises targeting the youth. Creation of these enterprises requires some capital input which may be a challenge for the youth to acquire. Luckily, micro financing can enable beginners to access small business loans which can be repaid for a specified period of time. This will not only solve unemployment but will also reduce unemployment related crimes.
Secondly, a portion of the schooling population does not finish school but drop out as early as secondary level. To address this problem, particularly for those students who may not re-enroll, this class presents the involved with a near permanent unemployment situation. Research showed that there is a general attitude in Saudi Arabia with youth evading employment in casual labor.
An example given in support of this is that work like carpentry, is generally not embraced warmheartedly by Saudi youth leading to the work being taken up mostly by foreigners. Encouraging the youth who dropped out of school will take an attitude-changing training of the youth across Saudi Arabia. This has a far reaching impact on the population of the country at large.
Conclusions/recommendations
In conclusion, the problem of unemployment in Saudi Arabia is a problem that has national outcry. The implementation of some reformations should be considerate enough to address the problem. It has been established that culture and social setting of the Saudi society has a negative impact on the resolutions put in place to address the problem. The most hit person in the region is a woman, who feels the impacts of religion and culture to a substantial extend.
The part that has been found to be most devastating is sex segregation related to employment. As a fact that has been established and found to have far reaching effects, segregation, if handled the way given in the solutions will mitigate the impacts of unemployment to a large scale thus giving a Saudi woman a significant place In the economic building of that nation.
With regard to the research process, information given may be limiting in the sense that research looked at time frame of 10 years data. Any useful research can therefore, be incorporated or carried out to investigate further into the problem of women unemployment problem facing women not only in Saudi Arabia but also in other developing countries.
With regard to research, the following recommendations are suggested.
- Further research should be undertaken to establish the plight of women in the labor market of Saudi Arabia.
- The implementation process regarding the suggested reforms in the education sector should be taken with immediate effect in order to address the unemployment problem facing Saudi Arabia
- Sex segregation should not only be taken as a problem facing Saudi Arabia, but it should be viewed on a global scale since there could be other victims elsewhere in the world.
- A recommendation is made to separate religion and learning as a process.
Reference list
Arya, S & Roy, A. (2006). Poverty, gender and migration. New Delhi: Sage Publications India Pvt, Ltd.
Bosbait, M. & Wilson, R. (2005). Education, School to work Transitions and Unemployment in Saudi Arabia. Middle Eastern Studies. Vol. 41(4).Pp 533-545. Web.
Bowen, H. W. (2008). The history of Saudi Arabia. Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.
Budhwar, S. P. & Debra, A. Y. (2001). Human resource management in developing countries. New York: Routledge.
Cordesman, A. H. (2003). Saudi Arabia enters the twenty-first century: the political, foreign policy, economic and energy dimensions. Westport: Praeger Publishers.
Maisel, S. & Shoup, J. A. (2009). Saudi Arabia and the gulf Arab states today: A-J. Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.
Moghadam, V. M., (2003). Women: gender and social change in the Middle East Colorado: Lynne Rienner, Publishers, Inc.
Niblock, T. (2006). Saudi Arabia: power, legitimacy, and survival. New York: Routledge.
Petmesidou, M. et al. (2006). Poverty and social deprivation in the Mediterranean: trends, policies and welfare prospects in the new millennium. New York: Zed Books.
Ramady, A. M. (2005).the economy of Saudi Arabia: policies, achievements and challenges. New York: Springer.
Rao, D. B. (2004). Education for women. New Delhi. Discovery Publishing House. New York: Routledge.
Wilson, R. (2004). Economic development in Saudi Arabia. New York: Routledge.
Appendix
Table 1. Employment in Saudi Arabia, 000s
Table 2. Average Saudi monthly salaries, SR (1US$=3.75 SR)
Chart 5.4: Women as a percentage of the labor force
It shows that the most of the labor force (about 75%) comprises of foreigners.