Unemployment in Saudi Arabia, Research Proposal Example

Introduction

In the world that is increasingly being competitive, the transition of education to productive and rewarding employment is becoming more challenging for people everywhere. Nevertheless, the satiation has reached a critical juncture in the Middle East. For instance in Saudi Arabia more and more Saudis are worried about their job prospect. In the past, the government could absorb most graduate in the public sector.  However nowadays the education sector is bloated; thus the government can no longer absorb large numbers of Graduates.  Besides, the private sector offers are less desirable. Thus, foreign workers fill 90% of the jobs. According to Hoetjes, (213), the rate of unemployment in a country is a factor of a totality of various factors that have both direct and indirect implication on it. In any case, it is specific to any country. The purpose of this research study is to describe the unemployment issue in Saudi Arabia in term of its structure, reasons, and potential ways of resolution.

Bibliography review

Despite its rich endowment of oil resource, Saudi Arabia has difficulties in providing sufficient employment, especially to its youths.  According to Glum, (215)  Saudi unemployment issue is a consequence of shortcoming of its systems including lack of proper education, conservative religious society, and a less robust a  private sector that over depend on foreign labor.

To evaluate the Saudi labor market, it is necessary to analyze the country’s demographic trends and the composition of its population.  The Saudi population is among the first growing in the world. The country’s population grew fourfold from 7.3 million in 9175 to 30 million in 2013.

According to Hoetjes, (231) the unemployment rate in Saudi remained an changed at 5.7% in the year 2014. According to the trading economic article, the unemployment rate in Saudi Arabia averaged 5.51% from 1999 to 2014. The rate reached an all-time high in 2006, at 6.3% and a record low of 4.35% in fourth quarter of 1999. More than two third of the Saudi population is below the age of thirty. Besides more than 100000 graduates, enter the job market yearly. The rate of joblessness among the youths and graduates Saudi Arabia is around 30%. The rate of unemployment in the country is even worse among women; it estimated at around 35% (Central Department of Statistics Information, 2015).

While there has been a small increment in the total number of unemployed persons, the unemployment rate has reduced in recent years. This is due to the ministry of labor efforts to support job creation and positive attitude from the private sector to the proposed law by the ministry of labor.

Over the recent past, the government of Saudi has developed a policy named Nitaqat that aims at reducing unemployment among the Saudis. The purpose of the policy is to impose certain quarters that the private sector has to maintain to absorb the unemployed Saudi while retaining their foreigner workers. Such efforts have yielded some significant benefits. For instance, Employment Plan (2014) observes that, while there has been a small increment in the total number of the unemployed person, the unemployment rate has reduced in recent years. Hoetjes, (216) attributes this to the recent effort by the ministry of labor, to support job creation and positive attitude from the private sector toward the proposed law. However, it is important to note that designing intervention to reduce unemployment to a sustainable level is not easy. Some proposed measure has the potential of creating more problems. For instance, Hoetjes, (213) observes that the current measure by Saudi government about employment has triggered a confrontation between the government and religious establishment.  It is the reason, Glum, (15) propose that adopting a more holistic approach appears to be essential to the efforts.

For further understanding, the unemployment issue in Saudi, the study takes a more holistic approach when analyzing the issue. The objective of the current study is to describe the unemployment issue in Saudi Arabia. It will enable us to make structural reason underpinning unemployment and explore the solution option in a comprehensive manner.

Methodology

The study aims at developing a comprehensive analysis of the employment system in Saudi Arabia. A qualitative research approach is proposed for this study. An efficient review of literature will be conducted to identify the relevant work on the topic of study. To capture relevant information document will be electronically searched from a wide range of websites. In addition, the researcher will interview main stakeholders seeking their perception of the underlying cause of unemployment in Saudi. The data from the interview will be coded and analyzed using SPSS. The study will build from this preliminary exploration to provide a holistic analysis of the employment system, integrating the different cause of unemployment and mapping out their interdependencies into the synthesized framework. In addition, the Saudi Arabia employment and unemployment data from the central department of statistics will also be analyzed.

Anticipated result

We expect that the study will find out that youth and women are the most hit groups by the unemployment in the country.

In addition, the study is expected to find out that the underlying cause of unemployment among Saudis stems from the lack of proper education system, conservative society and less robust private sector that over-rely on the foreign workers.

Regarding the methods to address the unemployment, it is expected that the study will find out that the recent step by the government to address the unemployment in the country will provide shorter relief to the unemployment. Most importantly, it is expected that the study will find out the critical importance of enhancing the public and private sector cooperation, coordination and communication.

Discussion

The finding of the study will create a common understanding of the structural reasons for unemployment in Saudi Arabia. For instance, it will be clear that the unemployment problem is a systemic problem that requires systemic solutions.  It will also raise awareness of the potential consequences of intervention that will help decision makers to identify effective and robust solutions and ensure their successful implementations.

Work cited

Central Department of Statistics Information. (2015). Labor force. Retrieved from: http://www.cdsi.gov.sa/english/index.php?option=com_docman&task=cat_view&gid=85&Itemid=113 Employment Plan 2014).

Employment Plan 2014). The Saudi Arabia Employment Plan: 2014. Retrieved from: https://g20.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/g20_employment_plan_saudi_arabia.pdf.

Glum, J. (2015, Jan).Sauda Arabia’s youth unemployment problem among King Salman’s many new challenges after Abdulla.

Hoetjes, G. (2013).Unemployment in Saudi Arabia: A ticking time bomb. Retrieved from http://muftah.org/unemployment-in-saudi-arabia-a-ticking-time-bomb/#.VZAIOEZP850.

Index Mundi. (2012). Country comparison. Retrieved from: http://www.indexmundi.com/g/r.aspx?c=sa&v=2229.