RIYADH — The Minster of Labor and Social Development Eng. Ahmed Al-Rajhi stressed that the ministry has issued a number of decisions on Saudizing 595,000 jobs. Of these, 175,000 jobs were Saudized till the end of September.

The ministry helped improve women’s participation in the job market, which exceeded 2020 objectives and achieved 25.3% in 2019, he noted at the Budget 2020 Forum here.

Al-Rajhi pointed out that the ministry has launched the Future Work Company to activate unconventional and modern work including distance work program, flexible work hours and freelancing.

He further said that there were successful examples of distance work programs that need to be implemented in some areas of the Kingdom to help achieve the integrity of the local economy.

He also said that more than 60,000 citizens benefited from social finance, which amounted to SR3.5 billion, and provided SR526 million support to 2,462 SMEs, and SR412 million to finance 32,000 productive families. — SG