Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — About 48,000 Saudi women have entered the job market in the second quarter of 2018, which is an increase of 8.8 percent over their number in the same period the previous year, according to a labor market bulletin.

Issued by the General Authority for Statistics (GaStat), the bulletin said there as many as 593,400 Saudi women are now working in the private sector in various parts of the Kingdom.

It said the department of the nationalization of jobs in the Ministry of Labor and Social Development is working on developing the remote employment centers to accommodate more than 50,000 women job seekers.

Officials of the department held a series of meetings with 18 government and private establishments including a number of international companies such as the IBM and the Chinese company Huawei to create more jobs for Saudi women in the sectors of the renewable energy, communications, IT, engineering, commerce, tourism, transport, accounting, contracting, retail business and others.

The representation of female workers in the private sector is 6.3 percent of the total workforce, which has reached 9.37 million.

The Ministry of Labor has launched number of initiatives within the National Transition Program to face the high unemployment rate among Saudis.

The ministry aims to raise the number of job opportunities available in the private sector for Saudi men and women from 1.8 million when the program was launched to 3 million by the end of 2020.

The program also targets reducing the unemployment rate from 12.3 percent to 9 percent by 2020.

The program also aims at increasing the ratio of female workforce in Saudi Arabia from 22 percent to 28 percent by 2020.

Meanwhile, the ministry said it would continue its inspection tours of establishments in all regions to closely follow up on the implementation of the Saudization decision.

According to the ministry, the nationalization of jobs in shops selling electric and electronic appliances, watches and glasses started on Friday.

It said in January, the nationalization of jobs will cover the shops selling medical equipment, car spare parts, carpets and sweets.

The ministry in September started the Saudization of jobs in car and motorbike showrooms, and stores selling ready-made garments, children’s clothes, home and office furniture and household appliances.

It said the move was aimed at providing more job opportunities for the Saudi men and women. It warned violating establishments with severe punishments.