Riyadh – Mubasher: Saudi employment rate is expected to increase gradually in several sectors including trade which experienced a three-stage Saudisation drive from September 2018 to last January, according to a report released by Jadwa Investment.

The National Industrial Development and Logistics Program (NIDLP) is projected to contribute to creating additional jobs in several sectors, including manufacturing, mining, and trade.

Moreover, the Ministry of Labour and Social Development (MLSD) has recently launched a new initiative to Saudise jobs in several sectors, such as real estate, health, information technology (IT), restaurants, pharmaceutical sales, and accountant positions, which saw mounting demand by job seekers.

Unemployment in the kingdom declined to 12.7% at the end of 2018, compared to 12.8% in the prior year, according to the latest data released by the General Authority for Statistics (GaStat).

In addition, Saudisation in the private sector increased to 21.8% last year from 19.9% in 2017.

Total number of expat workers in the kingdom decreased by nearly 1.6 million since the beginning of 2017 as about one million foreigners left the Saudi labour market in 2018.

All sectors recorded a retreat in the number of expat workers, especially in construction which witnessed departures of about 910,000 foreigners and around 41,000 Saudis.