Saudi says doubles number of citizens in private sector jobs
Saudi Arabia has doubled the number of its citizens working for private companies in the 30 months since it introduced wide-ranging reforms to tackle long-term unemployment, Labor Minister Adel al-Fakeih said on Sunday.
Policy makers fear a failure to create a productive local workforce will leave the kingdom vulnerable to any future fall in oil revenue. Despite the lack of any significant protests during the 2011 Arab uprisings, they were uncomfortably aware that unemployment contributed to unrest in neighboring countries and worry about the long-term risk of political instability. (Reuters)
