Population and Demographics: Saudization and the Labor Market

Abstract

There are a multitude of reasons — economic, social and political — for the Saudi Arabian government’s serious approach to the current state of the labor market and to Saudi unemployment issues. Unemployment means less output, a lower standard of living and a high and worrying dependency rate. Some studies have put the number of Saudi dependents as high as 56 per 100 Saudi workers, some 2.4 times the world average (Al Sheikh, 2003). Thus, any major decline in income per worker, or a total lack of work, could have a dangerous effect on living standards and social cohesion. A worrying rise in juvenile crime rates connected with unemployed youth has now been widely reported in the local Saudi press and this adds further pressure on the government (Arab News, 5 March 2003).