Many sectors of the Saudi society believed that MBS rule would have a positive impact on the economic, political, and social conditions, given that he is a young man, however experts and scholars knew that he would cause troubles in the country which actually happened.
All segments of the Saudi society suffer from serious crises, but the youth group is the most affected one, as they are facing greater challenges given the wasting of state funds and capabilities, disrupting community peace, and security terrorism, and weak Labor markets.
All these problems and others stem from a short-sighted vision launched by the Saudi Crown Prince in 2016.
The five biggest problems facing the youth under the rule of King Salman and his son are:
• Obstacles in the labor market after graduating from university
Many young people in Saudi Arabia face the problem of not being able to achieve experience and efficiency, due to the difference between education and work, as well as the state’s negligence to develop the young people and their capabilities, which affects them negatively.
• Exploitation of free business under the name of voluntary work
The free business is exploiting young people who join to gain practical experience that qualifies them to work in the Kingdom’s market, but these institutions, or most of them, are exploiting young people and make them carry out their work tasks without providing the slightest financial reward, under the name of voluntary work. This, of course, causes a state of frustration for young people who lose years of life without compensation.
• Lack of job opportunities
Unemployment has grown among Saudi people until it reached15% according to official statistics, which explains the decline in job opportunities due to the difficult economic situation.
Job opportunities are usually hunted by the older and more experienced generations or those who left their work in similar institutions. This makes the young people who joined newly the labor market live in a severe predicament because they do not find a job opportunity that suits them either professionally or salary-wise.
• The high cost of living for young people
Building a home and building the future is no longer an easy matter in the Kingdom of Oil. The costs of all goods and services have become very high, in addition to the lack of job opportunities.
Even inventing a practical idea from which youth can survive has become difficult due to the difficulty of providing funding for it, as governmental or private support give their grants with certain conditions, which limit the creativity of the youth.
This situation has become complicated under a government that lacks experience and vision in managing the country and benefiting from expertise. Does the government guarantee the silence of the youth, or would reality prove the opposite of Crown Prince’s desires?
