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Saudi Arabia’s Labor Market Records Remarkable Progress in 2024

Saudi Arabia has made quantum leaps in several indicators that underscore a significant advancement in the labor market, reported the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).

According to reports issued by the World Economic Forum (WEF) in 2024, the Kingdom has achieved notable progress in the indicators of flexible working arrangements, ease of finding skilled employees in the labor market, and equal pay for equal work.

Bolstering Labor Market

The advancement in the Kingdom’s position on the global scale is the product of the continued efforts of the Saudi Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development (HRSD).

As a result, Saudi Arabia has advanced 7 places in the flexible working arrangements since 2021. The Kingdom now ranks the 14th globally in 2024. The HRSD promoted the traditional labor market with new work patterns to attract more Saudi youth.

These new patterns include flexible work, freelance work, and telework programs. The initiatives have succeeded in creating more job opportunities for male and female Saudis.

Freelance Work Program

The freelance work program comes in line with Saudi Vision 2030. It highlights the HRSD’s interest in unlocking the human potentials of those who seek to increase their income and self-employed citizens. The program aims to improve their productivity, and hone their skills and expertise in suitable and productive jobs.

The freelance work program gives freelance workers a freelance certificate. It also features many benefits, such as optional social insurance, using the certificate as an official document to sign contracts with government or private entities, opening a bank account using the certificate, and using digital payment methods.

Freelance work offers attractive and sustainable pathways towards raising Saudization rates and providing more job opportunities for national cadres.

Flexible Work Program

It is one of the HRSD’s national initiatives that aim to streamline the contracting process between national cadres and private sector’s employers. Under this program, workers get paid on an hourly basis and are not eligible to any other benefits.

The flexible work program bolsters Saudization and provides job opportunities in the private sector, while meeting the private sector’s urgent and seasonal demand. Moreover, it keeps pace with the labor market developments and new contractual methods.

Telework Program

The telework program aims to bridge the gap between business owners and job seekers. It seeks to meet the needs of two main categories: women and people with special needs.

The program provides job opportunities in fields including translation, programming, customer service, tele sales, and data entry, in addition to many other fields.

Skilled Employees

Since 2021, Saudi Arabia has advanced 3 places in the ease of finding skilled employees index to rank 4th globally in 2024. To achieve this, the HRSD launched several initiatives and programs that support the training and qualification of national cadres for the labor market.

These initiatives include the “Skill Verification Program,” in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It aims to raise the efficiency of workers. The first phase of the program covers 128 countries to verify the qualifications and skills of expatriate workers.

Furthermore, the HRSD has supported Saudi female job seekers through its parallel training initiative, which aims to empower women and increase their participation in the labor market in line with Vision 2030.

The Ministry also launched the National Training Campaign initiative (Wa’d) to provide 1,155,000 training opportunities by 2025. It is part of the HRSD’s strategy to support and train national cadres in partnership with the private sector. Additionally, the Skills Accelerator Initiative aims to develop high-level skills and improve the productivity of 162,000 employees in the private sector.

Closing Gender Gap

Saudi Arabia has made significant progress in reducing the gender gap in the labor market. In the Global Gender Gap report, the Kingdom advanced two places in the equal pay for equal work index since 2023. It ranked the 13th globally in 2024.

Saudi women participation in the labor market increased to 34.1% in the first quarter of 2024. The economic participation of Saudi females above 15 years old recorded 35.8% in the first quarter of 2024, owing to the expansion of partnerships with various sectors.

Saudi females holding senior and middle management positions increased to 43.8% in the first quarter of 2024, thanks to the continued efforts to boost women empowerment in the labor market. The HRSD is working to raise women’s participation in the labor market to 40% in the coming period.

Overall, Saudi Arabia’s efforts to bolster its labor market have strengthened the Kingdom’s global position and emphasized its ability to influence labor market. For the first time, the Kingdom achieved a record number of Saudis working in the private sector, from 1.7 million in 2019 to more than 2.3 million in 2024. Moreover, unemployment rate has fallen to 7.6% in the first quarter of 2024.

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