The unemployment rate in the [Saudi] Kingdom has reached 31.7 percent, according to statistics published by the Saudi Monetary Agency (SAMA) quoted in Al-Watan newspaper yesterday.
A study issued five years ago by the manpower council in cooperation with a research center for the fight against crime showed that crime among unemployed Saudis rose by nearly 320 percent between 1990 and 1996, an annual growth rate of over 15 percent. This is expected to increase by another 136 percent by 2005.
The majority of perpetrators had been unemployed for one or two years, according to the study, and 84 percent of them blamed unemployment for their behavior. Theft ranked first among the crimes committed by the unemployed. |