By Abdul Rahman Al-Misbahi

Okaz/Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH — As many as 166,848 Saudi women are employed by the private sector, according to a report released by the General Authority for Statistics (GaStat).

The report said some 69,763 Saudi women, representing about 41.81 percent, are working in the education sector.

It said the total number of the women employed by the private sector was 308,766, including 147,978 expatriate women.

Saudi women represent about 54.4 percent of females employed by the private sector while the ratio of the expatriate women is 45.96 percent.

The report said health and social service with 20,422 women employees, or 12.24 percent, was the second largest employer of women in the private sector.

A total of 90,185 Saudi women, representing 54.05 percent, are employed in the two sectors.

The retail and wholesale sector is the third largest employer of Saudi women with 14,051 female employees, representing 8.42 percent of the total.

The fourth largest employer of Saudi women is the hotel and catering sector where 13,784 women (8.26 percent) work.

According to the report, there are 51,125 non-Saudi women employed in the health and social service sector, representing 36.2 percent of the total number of expatriate employees, while the education sector employs 35,930 foreign women or 25.32 percent of them.

Saudi women employed in manufacturing industries number 8,515 or about 6 percent of the total.

Meanwhile, the Saudi Supreme Judicial Council and the Institute of Public Administration (IPA) signed a memorandum of understanding for training and development.

The agreement was signed in the presence of Justice Minister Waleed Al-Samaani and Civil Service Minister Sulaiman Al-Hamdan.

The MoU will introduce judges and trainee judges to IPA’s legal programs, especially the Higher Diploma of Legal Studies, and will help them acquire necessary expertise in legal careers.

The two sides agreed to form a joint team of experts to implement cooperation in various areas.

The Higher Diploma of Legal Studies has recently been approved, and will be launched at the beginning of the next academic year. It consists of six terms in a span of three years, and includes courses in administrative, international, criminal, and business law.