العاطلون ومتلازمة الحرمان من الزواج

Every individual has the right to work and employment just as every individual has the right to marry. However, the causal link between work and marriage is a deviation from the human nature of the individual and society. Because of this, human life may stagnate, become extinct, or the birth rate may decline, as seen in some Western capitalist societies. This is beginning to affect our Arab and Muslim communities, where the birth rate in the Kingdom, for example, has decreased from 18.5 in 2015 to 14.5 in 2024.

There is a difference between the crisis of employment and the crisis of marriage; otherwise, we would have local and global indicators reflecting the rise and fall of marriage and divorce rates according to the rise in gold prices, oil prices, the value of the dollar, cryptocurrencies, and the stock markets in Saudi Arabia, the Gulf, Europe, and Asia.

The coercion of linking marriage to work simply means depriving the unemployed of the right to marry at the appropriate age. It may also mean that between 30% to 40% of those working in the labor market will not be able to afford marriage economically, as their salaries often range between 3,000 and 5,000 riyals.

Any attempt to address the phenomenon of collective youth aversion to marriage and link it to the economic factors resulting from the unemployment crisis is a premature judgment of failure for any solution to this crisis. We may understand the impact of economic factors on the collective aversion to marriage, and we may understand the housing crisis, the cost of living, and the impact of all these factors on this phenomenon. However, it is neither wise nor accurate and objective to exclude other non-economic factors in searching for a solution to this crisis. The reason is that society has undergone numerous changes and deep transformations over the past years at the level of the individual, family, social relationships, and the impact of social media and various technological data. This must be taken into account as a given and an influence on the awareness, thinking, and attitudes of men and women regarding the idea of connection between the two parties and the assumed responsibility from both sides, alongside the regulation of roles after women entered the labor market and the rising cost of living.

It is certain that those who are employed are more financially capable of marrying, but this does not preclude the need for urgent and swift intervention by forming a high-level team of specialists to study the phenomenon and find social and economic solutions for it and for the phenomenon of declining birth rates.

It is important to study and evaluate "Incentive," "Marriage Associations," and "Marriage Loans," alongside reviewing the conditions for citizens marrying non-citizens and citizens marrying non-citizens. Additionally, legislation related to reducing the costs of marriage and the rising dowries in some local communities should be reviewed.

I believe that there is an urgent need to establish a legitimate national platform to encourage and motivate marriage among those wishing to marry in a legitimate, reliable, and respectful manner. Not all young people or families require a prestigious job, high financial income, or high dowries to marry off their sons or daughters.