RIYADH — More than 200,000 young Saudis, including 120,000 women, have joined the local employment market during the first nine months of 2021, according to the data of the National Labor Observatory under the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development. The Human Resources Development Fund (HADAF) announced that it has extended support for the employment of these young Saudi men and women who joined the private sector establishments from the beginning of the current year until the end of the third quarter of the year, through employment support services and programs for Saudis. HADAF said that the number of male beneficiaries of employment support services and programs for the same period reached 81,000, while the number of female beneficiaries reached 120,000. HADAF's employment strategy focused on developing, integrating and enhancing efforts along with partners in the private sector establishments to empower the sons and daughters of the country to obtain job opportunities in the labor market. This is in addition to developing and improving programs and initiatives to support and empower both young Saudi men and women. It also aims to develop new and qualitative programs that keep pace with the needs and requirements of the labor market. HADAF affirmed its keenness and continuity to support the training, employment and empowerment of young Saudi men and women in various professions and activities required by the labor market in line with the Kingdom's Vision 2030, through the branches and centers of HADAF. In May this year, the Council of Ministers approved a new regulation to provide subsidy for Saudi jobseekers that would contribute to raising the efficiency of the services being provided by HADAF to train and qualify male and female Saudi job seekers so as to enable them to take up jobs, as well as to enhance their readiness to enter the labor market. The new regulation replaced the regulation of the job search subsidy adopted by the Cabinet nearly 10 years ago and the regulation of the financial provision for difficulty in obtaining job approved seven years ago. As per the new regulation, HADAF would continue disbursing the financial aid to the current beneficiaries of the two programs of the search for work benefit and the financial provision for difficulty in finding employment, until the end of the specified period, according to the policies of the two programs. HADAF has been successfully implementing these programs namely Hafiz Searching for Employment Program and Hafiz Difficulty Finding Employment Program. The fund provides rehabilitation, training and employment support programs for the beneficiaries of the two programs, as well as incentive to find work, in order to develop their skills and abilities, based on the goals and mission of the Fund to enable the sons and daughters of the nation to join the labor market and participate in the current national development drive. The Hafiz Searching for Employment Program provides training and motivational services as well as monthly financial assistance of up to SR2,000 in order to support and enable the job search. These are meant for active jobseekers with a desire to gain knowledge and skills on their way to find employment. Jobseekers, who have enrolled in Hafiz, gain access to job placement centers, TAQAT online job postings, Liqaat career fairs, as well as numerous education and training offerings, and many other services. They also receive financial support for a period of one year to ease the financial strain of unemployment and allow them to fully focus on finding a job. Hafiz Difficulty Finding Employment Program aims to support male and female jobseekers in the age group of 20-60 who face any difficulties in getting a job. The program provides the beneficiaries with an integrated support or subsidy system through training and qualifying the beneficiary in addition to monthly financial assistance as stimulation in the serious job-seeking journey.
