Saudi aims to create over 561,000 private sector jobs by 2023

Saudi Arabia has revealed plans to create more than 561,000 private-sector jobs by 2023 as part of a new digital employment campaign.

The kingdom launched the Qiwa online platform on Wednesday, in a bid to combine all the country’s employment services in one place.

Launching the platform, minister of Labour and Social Development Ahmad Al-Rajhi said that the platform would help boost job opportunities for Saudi men and women, and also improve workplace efficiency and productivity, and attract international investment.

“The ministry has entered into partnerships and agreements to settle more than 561,000 job opportunities in the private sector until 2023,” he was quoted as saying by local daily Arab News.

The Qiwa programme aims to provide Saudi government officials with all the information required to identify the challenges facing employers and employees and help create new job opportunities, officials said.

“The Qiwa platform will have an impact on motivating investors. It will also re-engineer policies and procedures for all services provided to individuals and enterprises on a strong platform that will make a quantum leap in the business world and turn the Saudi market into an attractive market for opportunities and potential for competencies,” the daily quoted a ministry statement as saying.

“The services are provided in both Arabic and English in order to enable foreign investors to benefit from the services of a strong platform.”

Saudi has taken several steps to reduce unemployment among its citizens, as part of its Vision 2030 goal of reducing the country’s unemployment rate to 7 per cent.

The unemployment rate among Saudi nationals dropped to 12.7 per cent in Q4 2018 from 12.8 per cent in Q3, according to data from the kingdom’s General Authority for Statistics.

While the rate stood at 6.6 per cent at the end of the quarter among Saudi men, it was at 32.5 per cent among Saudi women.

The total number of Saudi employees across the country stood at 3,111,199 at the end of December 2018, with another 970,229 actively seeking work.