SANA’A — An economic report released by the Social Economic Center for Development Research accused Gulf countries of creating false justifications so as not to absorb the Yemeni work force.

The Gulf countries claim that Yemen's laborers don’t have sufficient knowledge and skills to be accepted in Gulf markets, the report said, asserting more than 80 percent of the Yemeni work force in the Gulf’s private sector do not hold secondary school qualifications.   

Those holding the secondary school certificates reach 8.5 percent; only 10 percent have any academic qualifications.

The report criticized the proxy system the Saudi government imposes on Yemenis, calling for the cancellation of this system because it disqualifies laborers their rights and it goes against international agreements, including World Trade Organization agreement, related to protecting capital.  

The report noted the importance of opening Gulf markets to Yemeni labor if they (Gulf nations) seriously want to help Yemen.

The unemployment phenomenon poses a political, social and economic threat to Yemen, the report said, indicating that unemployment exceeds 50 percent in the country. This percentage rose to 73.3 percent among youth aged 16 to 25 from 2007-2008. Certainly, the percentage exacerbated following the breakout of the political uprising in 2011, resulting in the loss of many labor jobs.

The report said unemployment grew annually to reach 4.1 percent, denoting that this ratio is internationally very high.

For his part, Wael Yaseen, an economic researcher, spoke of issues relating to vacancy creation and market labor organization, saying, “There is a direct mutual relationship between poverty and unemployment. The rise of unemployment triggers the increase of poverty. Thus, the low income of people leads to more deprivation and destitution. Poverty helps deny people from education and gaining skills and knowledge so that they can find jobs.”

Yaseen ascribed commonplace unemployment to many reasons, including the decreasing economic activities of the country and the state's insufficient role to employ youth, in addition to the clear imbalance between university outputs and working market demands, let alone the deterioration of investment projects.