RIYADH: The Ministry of Labor is taking steps to extensively update Saudi job description and categorization in cooperation with the relevant bodies and the Human Resources Development Fund. A ministry report seen by Okaz/Saudi Gazette states that the update covers all the demands of the relevant bodies and adds professions and new job titles. The ministry said that the move is being conducted through measures to accelerate the development of job description and categorization and in coordination with the relevant bodies in the field. The job description and categorization guide is divided into five sections according to the level of professional skill required, defined as: specialist and requiring high academic learning; technical and requiring above secondary school level; professional worker requiring secondary school education; skilled worker with lower than secondary school qualifications, and worker of limited skill who might be uneducated. The aims of the Saudi career categorization and description guide are to create a common language to help in the exchange of information and aid comparisons between different data in different countries. It will also help unify the handling of data concerning the workforce to assist in plans and carry out the necessary comparisons between them using precision information on professions, and benefit from the categorization in conducting joint research and in-depth studies. The Shoura Council had proposed that the ministry improve its performance by integrating the efforts of the relevant bodies to develop a unified database on the Saudi workforce and link it up to procedures to draw up a unified guide for job categorization and description in the public and private sectors. The proposal suggested that this be done through the coordination and integration of efforts of the relevant authorities and through work to link different professions in the guide to their training and qualification requirements.
