RIYADH — More than 167,000 Saudis entered the labor market within the past 12 months through the updated Nitaqat program, bringing the total Saudi who were employed via the program to 480,000 people. This has been revealed by Saudi Arabia's Minister of Human Resources and Social Development Eng. Ahmed Al-Rajhi during the 13th edition of the Social Dialogue Forum. The Forum was organized by the Ministry in cooperation with King Abdulaziz Center for Cultural Communication (KACND) in Riyadh, with the participation of the International Labor Organization (ILO). It was attended by representatives of the three production parties, the government, employers, and workers. During his speech, Eng. Al-Rajhi confirmed the MHRSD's keenness to agree with all its partners in the labor market, in addition to considering them as an important element in success, development and empowerment. He also stressed the importance of investing opportunities, addressing challenges, and taking decisions that would raise the efficiency of the labor market in order to create a vibrant and empowered society and a distinguished work environment to support the national economy, in accordance with the Kingdom's Vision 2030. The minister also showcased the initiatives of labor market's strategy, and the most achieved numbers such as Saudi Arabia achieving first place among the G20 countries in the growth rate of worker productivity for the year 2022, with a growth rate of (4.9%), according to the ILO, The rate of Saudis who benefited from the qualitative localization decisions also witnessed an increase, Eng. Al-Rajhi said. He also mentioned the launch of the Skills Accelerator and Training Vouchers initiatives, which aim to train more than 322,000 employees in the private sector in 126 professions to develop high, medium and low-level skills for national cadres. The percentage of compliance of private sector establishments with the regulations and decisions of the Labor Law also increased to 92%, in addition to the increase in compliance with nationalization decisions to 98%, the minister said. The number of electronically documented employment contracts on the Qiwa platform has reached more than 5 million contracts, Eng. Al-Rajhi said, pointing out that the rate of amicable settlement of labor disputes have also increased to 73%, in addition to the acceleration of growth in modern work patterns. The ILO representative Yusuf Ghallab commended Saudi Arabia's efforts to comprehensively implement policies and legislation in the labor market, in a way that ensure the goals of the social partners and the government. This is in addition to the added value of the participation of the main stakeholders in the legislation and decision-making process, he said. From his side, the Deputy Secretary-General of KACND, Ibrahim Al-Asiri, highlighted the cooperation with MHRSD, specifically in the Social Dialogue Forum, through several stations, including holding workshops, monitoring, and analysis, as well as writing reports according to the latest scientific methods in such distinguished projects, to contain a summary of the results of these meetings and workshops and the available implementation mechanisms.
