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35 percent unemployment in Soddyland?

Abid Khazindar â¢ Okaz
Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Ahmad Al-Zamil was recently quoted as saying that the number of Saudis employed in the private sector was 562,246 based on figures from the ministryâs department of statistics. According to figures in the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agencyâs annual report for 2002, the population of Saudi Arabia was 23.37 million, of whom 17.34 million are Saudis and the rest â 6.3 million â non-Saudis. The SAMA report said the number of Saudis of working age was 9.5 million and those employed in the government sector numbered one million.

Almost twice as many as work in the private sector?

In other words, if we add the number of Saudis in the private sector to the SAMA figures, we will see the total number of working Saudis is 1.56 million. Based on this figure, the rate of unemployment in the Kingdom is 35 percent. The figure is close to estimates by foreign sources but a far cry from the 8.5 percent provided by the Manpower Council.

I'm not a mathematician, but wouldn't 1.56m employed out of a work force of 9.6m make an employment rate of 16 percent, which would produce an unemployment rate of 84 percent? I guess they're dropping half the working age population as women, which would make 35 percent, but that'd still be the employed rate. What am I missing? Guess I'd better retake Economics 101...

Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2003-11-04

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