On February 8th, Thawra Saj and the unemployed people in Lebanon are gathering at 11:00 am at the Grand Serail to show the system and the whole world the reality of the Lebanese youth graduating with yet no possibility to work.
There are 30,000 new graduates each year in Lebanon; more than half of them are unemployed. Multiple factors play a role in that:
Lack of proper career orientation, flaws in the educational system, flaws in the economic system, and most importantly lack of job opportunities.
Anna Bjerde, the World Bank’s Director for Near and Middle East, stated that “the more diplomas you have, the more the probability of being unemployed in the region.”
The fact of the matter is that not only Lebanese suffer from unemployment, but they suffer the most. The current economic situation Lebanon was pulled into has led to the increase in unemployment.
Traditionally, Lebanese study to be doctors, engineers, or lawyers. In addition to being considered a “prestige” professional title, they are the most prized degrees a person can have in Lebanon.
This has created tough competition in these fields, increasing the brain drain in the country. Many holders of these particular degrees face unemployment in their fields of education, and not a few of them leave the country to secure their future.
Probably the most hurting the youth in Lebanon in that context is the system of wasta in the job market. Students and young graduates have complained about it countless times during their recent protests.
Basically, employers and recruitment personnel get pressured to hire a candidate based on his or her connection with a politician instead of qualifications and degrees.
The two graduates who opened the Thawra Saj in Martyrs’ Square after being fired from their jobs have cast a light on unemployment issues and lack of job opportunities in Lebanon.
Marc Darido and Rudy Hanna attempted to show that degrees in Lebanon are useless and that, whatever the years and money you invest in your education in Lebanon, it is a dead-end since there are no job opportunities.
Since day one of Marc and Rudy launching their Saj corner, many people have shown up and supported them. Their unwillingness to give up has inspired many, indeed.
They have now taken a step further and called for all the unemployed graduates to bring their certificates and gather at the Grand Serail on Saturday.
The aim of this initiative is to allow “educated, experienced, and unemployed degree holders” to publically expose their grim reality.
They stated, “For that, we decided to create a collection of those degrees and hang it on the wall across the Grand Serail to show the system and the whole world what we’re going through!”