RIYADH — Minister of Human Resources and Social Development Eng. Ahmed Al-Rajhi said on Tuesday that more than 2.2 million Saudi men and women are working in the private sector, which is the highest number in history. "The rate of economic participation of women reached 35.6 percent at present against 17.7 percent before the launch of the Vision 2030," he said while chairing a session on exploring "the prospects and challenges of the new field of work — freelance work, flexible work and remote work" organized as part of the activities of the 10th edition of Riyadh Economic Forum. Al-Rajhi said that the ministry targets to announce 11 decisions on localization before the end of this year. "The compliance rate of Saudization by employers reached 98 percent while the compliance in the Wage Protection Program was about 80 percent. The Qiwa platform provides 127 types of services to more than three million users and more than one million companies," he said. The minister noted that the establishment of the Future Work Company in the fourth quarter of 2019 aimed to bring much closer to the private sector and individuals in the market, explaining that its aim is to empower young men and women in the labor market and develop their skills. It is part of the ministry's initiative aimed to organize and stimulate the freelancing sector in the Kingdom to contribute to creating work opportunities for Saudi citizens in various sectors. According to Al-Rajhi, the average economic value of self-employment in the Kingdom is estimated at SR7.4 billion in 2021 in various fields of self-employment and professions. "The ministry has issued three organizational decisions for different types of work, and is currently working on a project to review legislation," he said while noting that a total of 1.85 million freelance work documents have been issued for 225 professions, distributed over 13 categories and 120 sub-activities. The minister said that females constituted 60 percent of those who obtained these documents. "The ministry also issued 270,000 flexible work contracts, and males represent 70 percent of those who obtained them and 90,000 of these contracts were for remote work at home, and 85 percent of them were obtained by women," he said.
