RIYADH — There has been a big jump in the participation rate of Saudis in the private sector from 1.7 million in 2019 to 2.3 million during the current year, according to a recent report of the Saudi Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development (MHRSD). The statistical figures contained in the Labor Market Bulletin, under the MHRSD, showed that more than 360000 Saudis, who had never entered the labor market earlier, joined the market during this period. The increase in the hiring of Saudis led to a decrease in the total unemployment rate to 8.3 percent in the second quarter of 2023. The remarkable growth in the number of Saudis in the employment market is mainly attributed to the major reforms, as well as to the labor market strategy, and the great support that was reflected in the major transformations in the labor market in generating jobs for Saudis. The ministry has made many efforts to make the labor market in the Kingdom an attractive one for talents and competitiveness in global markets. The labor market strategy, through its programs and initiatives in support of achieving the Kingdom's Vision 2030, has contributed to achieving tangible results at the national level. The Kingdom has achieved first place among the G20 countries in the growth rate of worker productivity for the year 2022, with a growth rate of 4.9 percent. The efforts also contributed to reducing unemployment rates among Saudi women to 15.7 percent. The report issued recently by the National Labor Observatory showed the success of the ministry's plans in cooperation with the private sector in sustaining citizens in the private sector in all their categories for a period of more than 20 years. This stability comes as a culmination of efforts to enhance the sustainability of its workers, and the training opportunities and incentives that the sector provides in addition to financial rewards, and continuous training and development. Through its strategy, the ministry worked to enhance the areas of women's empowerment, Saudization, enhancement of skills, training, oversight, and developing the work environment. It also worked to increase the level of participation of Saudis in the labor market through several initiatives, such as the initiative to activate the supply and demand forecasting unit, and transfer the management of the localization file to six ministries for direct supervision, issuing 45 localization decisions in specific activities and professions in various sectors. The ministry also launched the National Skills Strategy to raise the Kingdom's ranking in the Global Talent Index from 30 to 20 by 2026. The ministry established 12 sectoral skills councils with the aim of building professions according to professional standards that suit market requirements. The ministry is working to cover 2,000 skills and build and develop standards for 300 sectoral professions and professional paths by 2025. It also launched the Skills Accelerator and training vouchers initiatives paid to individuals to develop skills. The ministry's initiative aims to train more than 322000 Saudi employees in the private sector in 126 professions to develop the high, medium, and low-level skills of national cadres. It also launched, in cooperation with 14 national companies, the national training campaign titled "Waad" to motivate the private sector to provide training for Saudis, as the initiative succeeded in achieving its goals during the first half of 2023, with the number of opportunities reaching more than 193000. The campaign aspires in 2025 for the number of people targeted for training to reach 1,155,000 million training opportunities. A total of 62,254 female beneficiaries were also trained on the job as part of the Parallel Training Initiative 2023, achieving 62 percent of the initiative's target.
