Saudi Arabia Achieves Global Recognition In Labor Market Indicators

The World Economic Forum (WEF) has highlighted Saudi Arabia's notable advancements in flexible working arrangements, skilled labour availability, and equal pay for equal work in its 2024 report. The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development (HRSD) has played a crucial role in enhancing the Kingdom's global standing in these areas.

Since 2021, Saudi Arabia has climbed seven places in the flexible work arrangements index, now ranking 14th globally for 2024. This improvement is due to the Ministry's efforts to diversify the traditional labour market by introducing new work patterns such as flexible work, freelance work, and telework programs. These initiatives have created more job opportunities for Saudis.

The Kingdom has also made significant progress in the ease of finding skilled employees index, advancing three places since 2021 to rank 4th globally in 2024. The Ministry has launched several initiatives to support the training and qualification of national workers. One such initiative is the "Skill Verification Program," conducted in partnership with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which verifies the qualifications and skills of expatriate workers from 128 countries.

Additionally, the Ministry supports job seekers through the parallel training initiative. This program aims to empower women and increase their participation in the labour market by providing training focused on fundamental and technical skills, career guidance, and employer-provided tasks to ensure graduates' success.

Equal Pay and Women's Participation

In terms of equal pay for equal work, Saudi Arabia has moved up two places since 2023, now ranking 13th globally in 2024. The share of women in the labour market has increased to 34.1% in the first quarter of 2024. During this period, Saudi women's economic participation rate over age 15 reached 35.8%. Efforts to promote women's empowerment have also led to an increase in women holding senior and middle management positions to 43.8%.

The Ministry aims to raise women's participation target to 40% soon. These efforts have strengthened Saudi Arabia's global position and demonstrated its ability to influence the labour market positively.

Training Initiatives

The "Wa'ad" National Training Campaign initiative aims to provide 1,155,000 training opportunities by the end of 2025. This campaign is part of a broader strategy to support and train national cadres in partnership with the private sector. It targets several goals, including training 12% of Saudis annually, establishing 12 sectoral councils for skills with private sector collaboration, and creating national professional standards for over 300 professions.

Another key initiative is the Skills Accelerator Initiative, which targets developing high-level skills for 162,000 employees in the private sector to improve productivity.

Labour Market Achievements

Saudi Arabia has achieved a record number of Saudis working in the private sector, increasing from 1.7 million in 2019 to over 2.3 million in 2024. Additionally, the unemployment rate has declined to 7.6% in the first quarter of 2024.

These comprehensive efforts by HRSD have significantly contributed to enhancing Saudi Arabia's global position across various labour market indicators.

With inputs from SPA