The upgraded Nitaqat program by the Saudi Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development has been launched with a goal to provide 340,000 jobs by 2024. Inaugurating the program, Minister of Labor and Social Development Ahmad al-Rajhi revealed that it aims at developing and increasing the efficiency of the labor market and providing job opportunities to Saudis.
The upgraded Nitaqat program boasts three new features. Firstly, the localization plan with a clear and transparent vision for the coming three years, with the aim of increasing the organizational stability of private sector institutions. Secondly, the program will use a linear formula that is properly associated with the number of employees at an institution, instead of current localization rates that rely on classifying institutions into certain and fixed sizes. The third update simplifies the design of the program and improves the client experience by merging activities with similar characteristics into 32 choices instead of 85.
Nitaqat was launched in 2011 to encourage the Saudization or localization of jobs and set a minimum wage for Saudis in the private sector. The program’s first step was increasing the minimum wage to SAR3,000 ($800).
It was later raised to SAR4,000 ($1,000) during the beginning of the Q2, 2021.
If you see something out of place or would like to contribute to this story, check out our Ethics and Policy section.
