Cairo: The number of Saudis working in the private sector reached 1.9 million last year, marking the highest in the country’s history amid a vigorous drive to create more jobs to citizens, the Saudi Ministry of Human Resources disclosed.
Saudi Arabia seeks to reduce uemployment rates among its citizens to 7 per cent by 2030 and ensuring that female workers accounting for 30 per cent of the total workforce that year, Okaz newspaper reported.
An employment strategy, based on the ambiotious development scheme Saudi 2030 Vision, aims to provide enough job opportunities for the Saudis, offering such suitable wages to harness ful utilisation of the Saudi human resources and achieve a competitive edge for the national economy, it added.
In recent years, Saudi Arabia has unveiled a series of initiatives to employ its nationals and replace foreign workers in several fields including health, education, banking, entertainment, telecommunications and real estate.
For example, plans aim to employ around 40,000 Saudis in the private health institutions and 15,600 others in telecom and information technology.
A decision to replace foreigners with Saudi citizens in jobs in three sectors came into effect last month as an employment policy in the kingdom dubbed “Saudisation”.
These sectors are customs clearance, driving schools and engineering technical jobs.
Foreigners make up about 10.5 million of Saudi Arabia’s total population of 34.8 million.
