Saudi Arabia Advances Internationally in Several Indicators According to World Economic Forum Reports

Saudi Arabia has achieved significant global progress, securing top positions in indicators related to flexible work arrangements, ease of finding skilled employees in the labor market, and gender pay equality for similar work, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2024 reports.

The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development has made extensive efforts to enhance the Kingdom’s global standing in its field. Saudi Arabia has advanced 7 positions in the flexible work arrangements index since 2021, now ranking 14th globally for 2024. The Ministry has bolstered the traditional labor market by introducing new work patterns through three new programs aimed at encouraging employers to hire job-seeking Saudi youth: the Flexible Work Program, Freelancing, and Remote Work. These initiatives have successfully created more job opportunities for Saudi nationals.

The Freelancing Program aligns with Saudi Vision 2030 and aims to reach job seekers and self-employed individuals across the Kingdom, enhancing their productivity, skills, and experiences in suitable, stable, and productive work. The program provides a Freelance Work Certificate with various benefits, including optional social insurance registration, contracting with government and private entities using the certificate as an official document, opening a bank account linked to the certificate, and using digital payment channels. Freelancing offers attractive and sustainable career paths, contributing to increased national employment and diverse job opportunities.

The Flexible Work Program is a national initiative designed to enable national workers and private sector employers to engage in flexible contracts, with wages based on an hourly rate (the lowest unit of wages) without additional benefits. This program supports localization and provides job opportunities for national workers in private sector establishments, addressing urgent and seasonal needs, and adapting to labor market developments and contracting changes.

Remote Work aims to bridge the gap between employers and job seekers who face various obstacles to finding suitable employment. The program, through its dedicated platform, addresses the needs of two key groups in the national workforce: women and individuals with disabilities, offering job opportunities in fields such as translation, programming, customer service, telephone sales, and data entry.

In the ease of finding skilled employees in the local labor market index, Saudi Arabia advanced 3 positions since 2021, now ranking 4th globally for 2024. The Kingdom has launched various initiatives, programs, and decisions to support the training and qualification of national workforce for the labor market, including the first phase of the Professional Verification Service. This program, in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, includes 128 countries to verify the qualifications and skills of incoming foreign workers.

The Ministry supports job-seeking women through the Parallel Training Initiative, part of the National Transformation Programs of Vision 2030. This initiative aims to enhance women's employment opportunities in the Saudi labor market through various training programs that develop fundamental and technical skills, career guidance, and tasks provided by employers to improve job performance and ensure success in the labor market.

The Ministry also launched the national training campaign "WAD," targeting to provide 1,155,000 training opportunities by the end of 2025. This campaign is part of the Ministry's training strategy to support and train the national workforce in partnership with the private sector, with seven criteria for national businesses' participation, including training 12% of Saudis annually. Other initiatives include creating sectoral councils for skills in collaboration with the private sector, building national professional standards for over 300 professions, and the Skills Accelerator Program targeting 162,000 private sector employees to enhance high-level skills and productivity.

To motivate private sector establishments, the Ministry introduced the Work Award, which recognizes outstanding organizations across various tracks and encourages compliance with ideal work environment standards. The award, in its second edition, comprises three main tracks: "Localization," "Work Environment," and "Skills and Training," with 24 awards in total.

In the gender pay equality index, Saudi Arabia advanced 2 positions since 2023, now ranking 13th globally for 2024. The share of women in the labor market increased, with the index reaching 34.1% in Q1 2024. The economic participation rate of Saudi women aged 15 and overreached 35.8% in Q1 2024, due to expanded partnerships with various sectors to create more opportunities and increase the number of beneficiaries from parallel training and other women empowerment initiatives. The percentage of women in senior and middle management positions rose to 43.8% in Q1 2024, and the Ministry aims to raise female participation to 40% soon.

These efforts have contributed to enhancing Saudi Arabia's global standing and demonstrating its ability to transform the labor market, with the Kingdom achieving a record number of Saudis working in the private sector for the first time, rising from 1.7 million workers in 2019 to over 2.3 million in 2024, and reducing the unemployment rate to 7.6% in Q1 2024.