Saudi Arabia has been strongly rejecting suggestions in the Western media that it has become a breeding ground for Islamist extremists.

This year an estimated 100,000 Saudis will pour onto the job market but, according to local economists, only two out of three of them will find a job.

The government's civil service is already overstaffed, while companies want graduates skilled in technology, not arts and religion.

Saudi commentators say that when religious graduates fail to find a job, they become ripe for indoctrination by extremists such as Osama Bin Laden.

Shaping education

The government says it is now putting more emphasis on technical courses in a bid to mould its education system to the modern marketplace.

But time is not on the government's side. The price of oil, the mainstay of the Saudi economy, is not keeping pace with population growth.

Foreign investment is not coming in as fast as officials would like.

The result is that Saudis are generally getting poorer and unemployment is rising.

So now some Saudis are speaking the unspeakable - privately criticising the lack of democracy and the vast concentration of wealth in the hands of thousands of ruling princes.

Despite the efforts of Crown Prince Abdullah to reform this country, corruption and waste remain entrenched in the system.

When the oil price was high and jobs were plenty, ordinary Saudis overlooked such things.

But in these difficult times, many are growing impatient at their rulers' shortcomings.