After months without steady work, Saudi computer specialist Abdullateef Al Jarfan donned the red graduation gown from his U.S. master’s degree and began selling homemade tea by the roadside.
The 32-year-old hoped his gimmick would attract customers but, within hours, a video of him on social media had gone viral, making Jarfan the face of unemployment in Saudi Arabia.
“I was applying to jobs and waiting for a breakthrough, but I couldn’t just sit at home,” he said. “I needed to do something.”
Job creation is the biggest domestic challenge facing Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as he reshapes an economy long dependent on exported oil and imported labor. Unemployment hit a record 15% last year, when Covid-19 set back the de facto ruler’s ambitious Vision 2030 plan to transform the conservative Islamic kingdom into a regional business and tourism hub.
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