Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — Minister of Human Resources and Social Development Eng. Ahmed Al-Rajhi announced on Sunday that the ministry will issue Saudization decisions in 11 new sectors before the end of the year 2022.

These sectors include professions in project management; procurement; food and drug, he said. The minister made the remarks during his meeting with businessmen and businesswomen at the headquarters of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Riyadh.

Al-Rajhi said that the decisions to localize sectors, activities and professions have contributed to an increase in the number of Saudis working in the private sector to more than 2.13 million male and female citizens. This has also been instrumental in bringing down the unemployment rate of Saudis to 9.7 percent as well as to the increase in the rate of women’s economic participation to 35.6 percent.

The minister praised the efforts of the private sector in employing Saudis, and the distinguished partnership with businessmen and women to achieve the objectives of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030. Al-Rajhi noted that the rate of private sector firms’ compliance with the Labor Law regulations reached 98 percent during this year, and that more than 74 percent of labor cases are resolved amicably through the Department for the Amicable Settlement of Labor Disputes, thus avoiding the prospect of taking the cases to courts.

“The compliance rate in the Wage Protection Program reached nearly 80 percent, as well as documenting more than 3.8 million work contracts in the Tawtheeq program, and digitizing contracts electronically, ensuring that the worker and the employer receive a copy of a documented and regular contract,” he said.

Al-Rajhi pointed out that the ministry’s services have been automated as part of an ambitious digital transformation project. Under the project, the number of services provided on the Qiwa platform has reached 127, thus serving more than 3 million users and more than one million companies.

More than 700,000 services have been provided per month to beneficiaries without the need to personally visit the labor offices. He said that the ministry has expanded its Musaned platform from one service to more than 35 services that are 100 percent automated, thus making available services to more than two million beneficiaries.