Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Human Resources and Social Development (MHRSD), Ahmed Al-Rajhi has remarked that the Kingdom is proceeding with the efforts of reducing the unemployment rate to less than 7% by 2030.
Speaking at an interaction with a Saudi regional television channel, Mr. Al-Rajhi stated that Human Resources and Social Development Ministry’s agreements with partners and supervisory ministries have created 420,000 job opportunities for Saudi men and women.
The Minister observed that the newly established regulations by the ministry to improve the contractual relationship will improve the competitiveness of the Saudi workers to be equal to that of expatriates.
Mr. Al-Rajhi noted that the 15 initiatives launched by the Kingdom to sustain jobs during the pandemic period have allowed the country to be among the least COVID-19 affected G20 countries.
Earlier this month, the Saudi Arabian MHRSD had officially declared the much anticipated revolutionary Labor Reform Initiative (LRI) under the National Transformation Program (NTP) which strives to make the Kingdom’s labor market attractive and in and in line with international labor standards.
The newly introduced regulations which are expected to be enforced from Mach 14, 2021, allow expatriate employees to conditionally switch jobs or leave the country without seeking the permission of the sponsor.
The new labor regulation initiates the contractual agreement between the employee and employer based on their employment contract through digital documentation of those contracts, which will contribute to reducing the disparity between Saudi workers and the expatriates.
