Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development (MHRSD) launched the ‘updated Nitaqat’ program, in line with the labor market strategy that aims to enhance market efficiency and provide new attractive jobs for nationals.

The updated system offers three main advantages, as follows:

First: A clear localization plan over the next three years to enhance organization stability in the private sector establishments;

Second: The correlation between the number of employees and the target Saudization ratio at every establishment now depends on a linear equation in line with the number of staff at that establishment instead of the classification of establishments to certain and fixed sizes;

Third: A simpler design of the program to improve customer experience through integrating common activities, which currently stand at 32 instead of 85 within Nitaqat.

The new update comes in line with the other localization programs launched earlier by the ministry, as it will provide more than 340,000 jobs by 2024, the ministry said in a statement.

The Nitaqat program was first launched in 2011 to drive the localization of jobs and set a minimum limit for the wages of nationals in the private sector.

The minimum limit of wages were increased to SR3,000, ahead of reaching SR4,000 at the beginning of the second quarter of 2021.