Cairo: A Saudi government fund, tasked with encouraging the private sector to employ citizens, has said SR2.3 billion was offered in support in the first half of this year.
The Human resources Development Fund said around 220,000 male and female Saudis benefited from its support during the same period.
The fund aims to strengthen professional sustainability, boost the engagement of Saudis in the labour market and achieve job stability in the private sector.
Through its programmes, the fund also seeks to motivate the private sector to contribute to upgrade Saudi employees’ skills.
In recent years, Saudi Arabia has launched several initiatives aimed at employing its nationals and replacing foreign workers in various fields such as education, telecommunications, and real estate.
This labour policy, known as “Saudisation,” incentivises private sector enterprises to create jobs for Saudi citizens.
The overall numbers of private sector employees in Saudi Arabia reached 11.4 million last month, according to an official report.
They included nearly 2.3 million Saudis comprising 1.3 million males and 957,798 females, the Saudi National Labour Observatory (NLO) reported.
Some 16,598 Saudis joined the private sector manpower for the first time in June, the report said.
As part of the Saudisation efforts, the kingdom began in April localising insurance sales jobs, following a related decree issued four months earlier.
Additionally, the kingdom has restricted human resources positions to its nationals. The Ministry of Human Resources announced the second phase of a decree to localise consultancy services professions by 40% of the overall workforce.
The first phase of this decree took effect in April last year, mandating that 35% of employees in these jobs must be Saudis.
Moreover, Saudi Arabia plans to partially localise engineering jobs, with the decision taking effect on July 21. This initiative aims to Saudise 25% of engineering roles in private sector establishments that employ at least five workers in these positions.
