RIYADH— The total number of women leaders in the Saudi labor market reached 1,707, thanks to the leadership training and guidance initiative for women cadres under the Vision 2030. This figure exceeded the Vision target plan of 1,000 women in key positions, according to a recent report. The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development revealed in its latest report that the total number of women who have benefited from the training program within the initiative titled "Developing productive projects for those who want to practice self-employment" reached about 320 beneficiaries during the last year 2023, though the targeted beneficiaries of the plan was about 310 women. The ministry announced that Saudi women recorded many positive numbers in the labor market during the year 2023. The share of women shot up during this period compared to the period from 2017 until the end of 2023 to record levels in a number of sectors. Women's share in the labor market was about 21.2 percent during the year 2017 and it rose to reach 34 percent in 2023. As for the rate of economic participation, it rose to more than double, reaching 35.5 percent from 17 percent. The percentage of women in middle and senior administrative positions soared to 43.8 percent from 28.6 percent. With regard to the numbers allocated to both genders, the report indicated that the rate of Saudization in highly skilled jobs continued its strong growth, reaching 39.6 percent of the total jobs during the year 2023 while the target was 36 percent. The target percentage in 2025 is about 40 percent which means that only 0.4 percent remains to reach the targeted percentage for the next year. The ministry explained that the impact of the transformation on women's empowerment was that about 234,000 Saudi women have benefited from the Wusool transportation support program, and 1.6 million have benefited from the vocational guidance initiative for school students. The ministry announced the completion of the proactive implementation of the phases of the parallel training project for the year 2023-2024, bringing the number of female trainees to 15,000, with a completion rate of 100 percent. The number of trainees has increased in many training sectors in preparation for their participation in the labor market, as their number exceeded 16000 trainees, both male and female, in 49 training programs in many high-skilled sectors within the Skills Accelerator Program, and the sectors included tourism, retail, manufacturing and logistics services, health and social work, energy, mining, electricity and gas, information and communications technologies, and financial and insurance activities. The Skills Accelerator Program focused on boosting the efficiency of Saudi employees in the private sector, targeting industries with the greatest impact on the national economy. More than 10,000 individuals benefited from programs fostering self-employment and specialized skills development.
