Solutions to the Unemployment problem in the Middle East

Zohny 2011).

Developing a relevant education and training System

Middle Eastern countries and more so in Saudi Arabia is mostly theoretical (Al-Atawneh 2009). Many job markets, especially in the industries and the technical companies require people to have technical knowledge and practical experience for effective production. . The education system in the middle should have the basis of the modern technology to enable the graduates cope up with the current trends in digitization.

Encouraging and developing the private sector

(Al-Gelban 2009). The government of Saudi Arabia should encourage and develop the private sector by offering a good environment for the investors to operate. Some of the ways the government can encourage the growth of the private sector is by lowering the taxes imposed on both the local and foreign-owned companies. The authorities should also give incentives to the potential investors and remove any barriers such as high license fee and tough regulations that discourage investors in the country. The government should also set minimum wages paid to employees in the private sector as most of the employers offer very low salaries. Low wages and salaries discourage many people from seeking job opportunities in the private sector, which in turn leads to high unemployment levels.Middle East countries and Saudi Arabia include the banking sector, the manufacturing sector, the transport sector, and the service industry. Many of the private businesses face many challenges from the government regulations, such as high-interest rates, high taxation, and license fees. These challenges discourage investors, contributing to the increased unemployment levels in the Middle Eastern countries.

Population control

(Ali & Abdulrahman 2012). High population leads to strains on the available resources, leading to their depletion. The major contributor to the high population is the uncontrolled birth-rates where families have many children. There are many young people graduating from the learning institutions every year to join the labor market. The labor market cannot absorb all the graduates leading to the high population of jobless people. To control population, the government, through the health sector should implement birth control methods to reduce the high birth rates. The authorities should educate the citizens on the importance of having small families by the adoption of the family planning programs (Ali & Abdulrahman 2012). Religious leaders should teach their followers to have fewer children and educate them, instead of practicing their cultural values of having many children. The other way of reducing the high population is regulating the number of immigrants entering the Middle Eastern countries in search of job opportunities. Controlling immigrants will create vacancies for the locals in different sectors and reduce the number of people struggling to get jobs in the country.

Fighting corruption

Corruption is rampant in many developing countries and more so in the Middle East and Saudi Arabia (Devlin 2010). Corruption is in different forms such as bribery, nepotism, stealing of public funds, tribalism, and sometimes the religious discrimination. In Saudi Arabia, for example, the business owners have to bribe the government officials and trade regulators to operate their businesses. Many people have to pay some amount to secure a job in many government and some private organizations, which locks out many qualified people. Other employers employ people from their tribes, race, and religious denomination. The governments of the Middle East countries and Saudi Arabia can fight corruption through the formation of anticorruption commissions, which can track and investigate any corruption allegations. The other way is encouraging people to report any bribery claims to the authorities instead of paying the bribe to secure jobs. The government should carry out an audit in all the employment institutions to determine the level of tribalism and nepotism in the organizations. The people caught engaging in any corrupt activities should face the law and serve as an example to the other corrupt individuals. Those people found misusing the public funds; especially the politicians should face the law and pay back the resources stolen from the government.

Reducing the bureaucracies in doing business

In many Middle East, countries and Saudi Arabia there are many bureaucracies required for the private investors in order to set up businesses (Forstenlechner & Rutledge 2010). Those people interested in setting up business have many applications and submit them to various ministries. The requirements are tiring, and time-consuming making many potential investors to give up on starting businesses. Most of the companies also depend on contracts from the government, which discourages competition with similar companies in the region. The government of Saudi Arabia should work on the methods of reducing the requirements for those who want to venture into private businesses. The applications should be fewer to avoid discouraging many potential investors, which help in creating job opportunities. The government should also leave the private companies and business to compete and provide excellent services to the country. Competition will also lead to increased salaries to the employees as the organizations struggle to retain their employees.

Empowering Women and the Youths

number of young people graduating from the institutions of higher learning is more than the number of job opportunities in Arabia. The other unemployed youths do not have any skilled labor since some are school dropouts (Grammy 20130). The authorities should come up with policies that help the youths to get into self-employment and reduce employment levels. Some of the means to help the youths to start their own business is by funding their projects and providing loans al lower interest. The government can also empower the youths by organizing education and training forums in entrepreneurship and business management. The government should set women funds to help women secure enough capital to start up their businesses. The government should also support all the small and medium enterprises through funding and advising the owners.

In the Middle Eastern countries and Arabia, women do not seek employment due to religious, cultural, and social beliefs. The Arab’s culture dictates that women’s role is taking care of their husbands and children (Gerner & Schwedier 2004) women from seeking employment opportunities. The belief that only men should be the breadwinners is an outdated belief and societies should change their perceptions on the role of women in the society. The religious leaders should encourage women to venture out and participate in the nation building through their summons. Full participation of women in employment and job creation will help in developing the economies of these countries and reduce unemployment.

Development of infrastructure

any economy and where it lacks, the country’s developments stagnate resulting increased levels of unemployment. Infrastructural facilities such as good transport system, good communication, and other social amenities are very important for private investors in an economy. In the Middle Eastern countries and Arabia, infrastructure is a challenge, which makes it very hard for many business people to carry out their operations (Hanati 2011). The government of these countries will need to improve and build good infrastructure to enable the investors operate their ventures effectively. There is a dire need to establish more banking and financial institutions to help in funding projects such as housing and businesses. In many Arabian countries, funding is from the government and the competition for funds is quite stiff.

Encouraging self-employment and small-medium enterprise

In many countries in the developing world, many graduates always struggle to get employment instead of trying to create employment (Hjort 2013)The semi-skilled sector, if well managed can create many jobs to the unemployed and improve their way of life. The government should also provide market for the products from the small and medium enterprises in order encourage the owners to achieve their goals.

Adoption of good policies

Policies are the strategies adopted by various governments with the purpose of improving their countries’ economy (Nabli 2007). Some policies are good while others can lead to a negative impact on the development of the country. Middle East countries and Arabia should adopt only those policies that help to improve the people’s standard of living instead of widening the gap between the rich and the poor. The Arabian governments should work together with the other countries to establish ties that help in investments and trade. The countries in the Middle East should join world organizations to help in trade and development. For example, Saudi Arabia is the member of many world organizations, such as the World Trade Organization WTO and the International Monetary Fund IMF (Nabli 1007).

Encouraging innovation

Innovation is an important aspect of development in any economy and where it lacks, the development of that country lags behind. In many Middle East countries and Arabia, little innovation takes place as the countries rely on exporting petroleum and forgets the other sectors of the economy (Shahin & Dibe 2000). The Saudi Arabian government should encourage and fund innovative projects, which will create jobs for many people in the county. These projects will employ several people and help in industrialization of the economy. The government should encourage the use of the modern technology in all the sectors of the economy.

Opening investment to foreign businesses

Most of the businesses in the Middle Easter countries and Arabia are under the government and very few belong to private investors. The investments from foreigners are very few because of the restrictions set by the laws (Stampini & Verdier 2000). One way of creating job opportunities is by allowing foreign investors to set businesses in the country. Foreign investors can only invest in the Middle Eastern countries and Saudi Arabia if there is a favorable environment for investments. The governments can sign contracts with foreign companies to enable them operate with minimum challenges.

Effectiveness of the policies

The current policies in the Middle Eastern countries and Arabia are not very effective in addressing the unemployment challenges. Some of the policies are improving the country’s educating system, programs such as the Hafiz program, cooperate with the private employers for more jobs (Shahin & Dibe 2000). Some of the policies can reduce the level of unemployment while others will not. The policies, such as improving the education, the private, arresting the employs who break labor rules, and support for small businesses will help improve employment. However, policies such as deportation of illegal workers might not over a solution to the unemployment problem.

Recommendations to Reduce Unemployment Levels in the Middle Eastern and Saudi Arabia

The Middle Eastern countries and Saudi Arabia should venture in the tourism industry and encourage tourist from the foreign countries to visit in large numbers. The other recommendation is that the countries should change their cultural and religious values of the position of women, to allow them to venture into businesses. The countries should reduce the number of foreign experts and encourage the locals to take the positions. Adoption of family planning methods will be an important action to take to reduce overpopulation, and reduce the number of youths entering the job market. The other recommendation is for the government to privatize some institutions and allow the locals participate in the ownership and management of the institutions. Technology is very important for the development of any economy through innovations. For these countries to curb the unemployment, challenge innovation and invention must play an important part. Innovation helps in modernization and creation of job opportunities for the young people graduating from universities (Shahin & Dibe 2000)

There are other areas that the governments of the Middle East and Saudi Arabia sidelines when dealing with matters of unemployment. These areas are the cooperation with the other countries on matters of trade and industry. The authorities in these countries should join trade unions and world organizations to help in the export and the import industry. The Middle East countries are the main exporters of crude oil to many countries yet the poverty levels are very high. The reason for increased poverty is exportation of the crude oil instead of the final products, which can fetch better prices (Shahin & Dibe 2000). The government in these countries should invest in value addition to the oil products and export products such as petrol, diesel, paraffin, and the other products from the refined oil. Exporting the finished products will increase the earnings and create jobs in the manufacturing sector.

realize the fruits of their effort.

The role of the US and other countries in the reforms in the Middle East and Saudi Arabia

There are major reforms in the Middle East countries and Saudi Arabia to reduce unemployment, illiteracy, and high population. Most of the reforms touch on the education sector, women and youth empowerment, the health sector, and modern technology (Stampini & Verdier 2000). There are many challenges faced by these countries when trying to implement their reformation policies making it difficult to achieve their target. The Middle East and Saudi Arabia require technical and material support for them to carry out their reforms. The support includes the following.

Funding women and youth projects

(Stampini & Verdier 2000). Many women and the youths are jobless and can only venture into private businesses to earn a living. The government of the US and the other countries can fund several projects to encourage the women and the youths to venture in self-employment. The funds can be in for of loans at lower interest or just free funding. Once the groups have the funds, they can start and run small enterprises, which will grow into big businesses leading to the growth of the economy.

Offering advisory services to the government officials

There are many policies set by the governments in the Middle East and Saudi Arabia, but the problem is their implementation. The US government and the other countries can help these governments to implement the policies by offering advice and the right information. The advice can range from the source of funding, the usage of the funds, and the expertise required to implement the projects. With the correct advice, there is a guarantee of the success of the projects to create more employment to the local citizens.

Helping the reformation of the education sector

Education is the main contributor to the development of technology through innovation. Education can only be effective if the curriculum allows for practical skills and integration of modern technology (Grammy 2013). The US and the governments of the other countries can help in the reformation of the education sector by contributing ideas to the best skills required in those countries. Since the Middle East, countries and Saudi Arabia are mainly oil producers the best education system should incorporate technology related to industrialization.

Offering scholarships and exchange programs for students

the role of women in employment and economic development.

Offering expertise personnel

In the Middle Eastern countries and Arabia, there is a big challenge with respect to the supply of experts in various fields such as the manufacturing, education, technology, and management (Hanati 2011). Many jobs that require expertise go to the foreigners, as the locals have no skills to perform the jobs. The US government can assist the countries with the personnel required to shape the economy of the Middle East countries. The skills from the experts will assist in creating more industries and manufacturing plants in the Middle East and Saudi Arabia, which will lead to more job opportunities.

Help to lower the high population

(Hanati 2011). The US can help in the management of the high population by donating family planning drugs and services to reduce the high birth rates. The US can also help in funding the campaigns on family planning and the need to have fewer children. Some people cannot afford family planning drugs and the assistance offered by the other countries will be very important. The other offers from the US and the other countries will be funding of projects such as infrastructure, health, irrigation, and agriculture.

Conclusion

There are several challenges associated with unemployment and high population in the Middle East and Saudi Arabia, where many people face poverty and lack basic facilities. The research paper provides some solutions to the high level of unemployment to the problem, which include empowering of women and the youths, reducing bureaucracies, development of infrastructure, good policies, innovation and many others. There are a number of recommendations for the solutions to the unemployment problem such as adoption of the appropriate education system, fight against corruption, family planning, and many others as discussed. The US and other countries can help the Middle East countries in various ways as discussed such as offering advice, donating family planning drugs, funding projects, exchange programs in higher education, and funding infrastructure.

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