Riyadh: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has announced a new plan to replace foreign employees with Saudis in several sectors, local media reported.
On Wednesday, the Saudi Minister of Human Resources and Social Development, Ahmed Al-Rajhi, issued a new decision to localize a number of professions and activities, as part of the Kingdom’s plans to limit work in a number of professions to citizens.
The new decisions included the localization of licensed aviation professions, optics professions, periodic inspection activity, postal service outlets and parcel transportation, customer service professions, and sales outlets in seven economic activities in various regions of the Kingdom.
According to the Arabic daily Okaz, this step is expected to create more than 33,000 job opportunities for citizens with the aim of increasing their participation in the labour market and contributing to the country’s economic system.
As per multiple media reports, the unemployment rate in Saudi Arabia declined during the last quarter of last year to its lowest level in 12 years, reaching 11 percent.
The Kingdom seeks to reduce unemployment among citizens to 7.5 percent by 2030, and the government has implemented economic reforms since 2016 to provide millions of jobs in the implementation of Vision 2030.
Under the Saudization program, the authorities work from time to time to limit some professions and jobs to Saudis only.
It is also working to amend regulations to try to boost entrepreneurship and attract more foreign investment, in the hope that this will eventually create more job opportunities for Saudis.
