RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Nitaqat Al-Mutawar Program, which aims to stimulate the private sector to localize jobs, has helped in employing more than 550,000 Saudis over three years since its launch, surpassing the first-phase target of 340,000 jobs introduced in 2022, according to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development.

Taking to its official account on X, the ministry said the results helped reduce unemployment rates and enhance Saudi workforce participation in the private sector.

The ministry launched the second phase of the program on Thursday, running for the next three years, to further localize more than 340,000 additional jobs for Saudis in the private sector.

Describing it as a very encouraging and welcome result, Dr. Osama Ghanem Al-Obaidy, adviser and professor of law at the Institute of Public Administration, Riyadh, told Arab News: “This remarkable increase in the number of Saudis employed is a result of the Saudi government’s efforts to increase the rate of employment in terms of Saudi human capital benefiting from this pioneer program.

“The government is committed to reducing unemployment among Saudis in accordance with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030,” he added.

Notably, Minister of Human Resources and Social Development Ahmed bin Sulaiman Al-Rajhi said in December that the number of Saudis working in the private sector reached 2.5 million employees.

The Nitaqat Al-Mutawar program offers advantages, represented by a phase-wise transparent localization plan for a period of three years, in order to raise organizational stability in the private sector, providing clear Saudization rate expectations to give businesses time for strategic workforce planning, fostering regulatory stability and supporting the national workforce.