Unemployed Saudis have expressed their dissatisfaction over the new employment tracks program designed by the Ministry of Labor to help them find suitable jobs. Having looked at the offers, they said jobs and salary scales offered in the tracks program would not help in combating unemployment as they don't measure up to their aspirations. “The tracks will only lead to more unemployment,” they said. They argued these tracks don't consider the specializations of the job-seekers thus many of them have been dumped in jobs that don't match their qualifications. Weak salaries offered through these tracks are not attractive in any way, rather very frustrating and dashing their hopes of building a future career. Abdul Rahaman Al-Yousif, a food health specialist, said that trained graduates like himself can help improve the economy and contribute to the health of society as a whole, but they are not able to do so with deplorable employment conditions. “The number of food poisoning incidents increase every day even though the graduates are waiting in the wings but there is a lack of attractive jobs in the field,” he said. With employment opportunities falling in the wrong hands, a great potential of human resources would dry up in thin air. Naif Al-Suliman, a computer science graduate, said after four years of university education and several years of looking for a job, he was left holding the bag with no other choice but to become a salesman in a shopping center. Ahmad Al-Fahd, another unemployed graduate, said he has never tried using the employment tracks, knowing that the jobs provided do not allow for any real advancement nor do they allow for any training. If he were to receive training, he would have to pay the cost himself. Muhammed Al-Dawseri said jobs in the private sector are more demanding as employers look for highly skilled labor, yet the pay does not match the long working hours or the amount of effort an employee would exert. Khaled Bin Aaid said the wait time to get a job seems to be longer than anything else in the country. He has been unemployed for over a year and so have many of his university colleagues. Abdul Rahman Al-Sarea, director general of the National Organizing Council for Joint Training, refuted all the allegations raised by job seekers, stressing the success of the employment tracks program which has created 28 apprentices in the past five years. He also denied the allegation that the tracks program would only provide training in marginal jobs. “There are training programs available in 84 professions including Information Technology, management, and travel and tourism,” he said. The program has been under close supervision of Minister of Labor Dr Ghazi Al-Gosaibi, he said. The idea of the joint training is a brainchild of the General Establishment of Technical and Vocational Training and Ministry of Labor, he said. The main emphasis remains focused on providing training to job seekers, especially fresh graduates so they can meet the requirements of the labor market.
