"On May 23, the Saudi owned daily Asharq Al Awsat reported: "Dr Abd-al-Wahid al-Humayd, under secretary for planning and development at the Labour Ministry, has said that there are half a million unemployed Saudis and that the number of unemployed persons who committed crimes increased by 320 per cent between 1989 and 1995, according to a study conducted by the Work Force Council together with the Crime Research Centre at the Interior Ministry in 1997. Al-Humayd said this in statements to Asharq Al Awsat during the seventh open meeting for national dialogue, which was held by the King Abd-al-Aziz Centre for Intellectual Dialogue under the title "Fields of Work and Employment: Dialogue Between Society and Labour Enterprises" at Dhahran International Hotel in the city of Dhahran yesterday." (thanks to Paul and Mideast wire)