Balanced Nitaqat will reduce unemployment

Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Development Ahmed Al-Humaidan. (SPA)

RIYADH: The new Balanced Nitaqat program will help reduce unemployment, improve market performance, raise the quality of employment and generate good jobs for Saudis, create a safe and attractive work environment, and eliminate the presence of non-product nationalization practices, confirmed Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Development Ahmed Al-Humaidan during a press conference on Sunday.
“The labor market faces many challenges, including high unemployment, strong dominance of expats in important positions, low productivity, low percentage of women’s participation, and mismatching of educational outputs with labor market needs, which is why the ministry has called for strict and fast action to address the ongoing issues in the labor market,” said Al-Humaidan.
He said the ministry has sought to launch a range of new initiatives to address these problems, including the Balanced Nitaqat program, which goes beyond quantitative quota and encourages the labor market to increase the appointment of citizens and wages in administrative functions as well as increase the duration and sustainability of these employees and Saudi women.
Balanced Nitaqat deals with the gradual decline in employment, as most companies have transferred into safe zones and the ratio of job creation currently is not enough to reduce unemployment, he said, noting that the new program is expected to put extra pressure on companies to increase Saudization.
The new program will likely increase the number of companies in the yellow zone, but most companies will remain in the green zone, he added.
Labor Ministry recently approved a new program to incentivize companies to nationalize more jobs, which is scheduled to be applied after six months. The ministry also prepared a virtual calculator to assist companies in calculating their current Nitaqat level in order to work on improving their numbers in the coming period in accordance with both quantitative and qualitative factors, so as to remain in the safe range.