Saudi Arabia: The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development (HRSD) launched a new Saudization program, which aims to provide job opportunities for 115,000 nationals in the private sector through agreements with major companies to create jobs in certain fields, Saudi Press Agency reported.

This came during a meeting held by the Administration and Human Resources Committee of the Shura Council, which discussed the ministry’s annual report.

The meeting discussed the Saudization plan in general and the Saudization of professions in particular, in addition to the most important jobs in the private sector.

The ministry officials confirmed that Saudization rates hinge on two major factors; demand in the target region (size and nature of establishments) and supply (the qualifications of job seekers in the target region). Therefore, diversity in Saudization rates is driven by the two factors.

Officials also touched upon women’s economic participation rate, which has been increasing since 2018 until Q2 2020, which reflected an increase in the number of women joining the labor market.

Initiatives to boost the Kingdom’s rank among world’s countries were also reviewed during the ministry officials’ meeting.

In December 2020, HRSD unveiled plans for 2021, which included providing jobs for 115,000 nationals and the Saudization of a number of professions, Argaam reported.