Saudi Gazette Jeddah — Up to 16 companies have registered with the Ministry of Labor and Social Development to hire employees who work from home, according to General Manager of the Human Resource Development Fund Abdul Kareem Al-Nijaidi. This will help women and special needs people work from home, Nijaidi told a human resource forum here on Tuesday. Distance employment will include six programs such as employment in programming, translation and e-business among others in Madinah, Qasim, Hail, Al-Ahsa, Jazan and Najran. Nijaidi also said that working women may enjoy nursery and transportation facilities after spending four months on the job in Riyadh, Hail and Asir. By 2020, the program is expected to serve 150,000 working women in all regions of the Kingdom. He said the ministry has also launched a special support initiative for small businesses which are offered SR3,000 each month for two years. Nijaidi said a total of SR11 million was earmarked to support the employment of Saudis in the telecommunication sector. According to ministry figures, it has trained 36,937 employees and 129,534 students. Nijaidi said they want to increase from the current 300,000 to one million trained persons soon. He said there are 81,000 job opportunities and 71,000 employers looking for qualified candidates. There are 290,000 Saudis registered on Hafiz.
