Riyadh,
Human Resources and Social Development Minister Eng. Ahmad bin Sulaiman Al-Rajhi said today at the Real Estate Future Forum held here that the ministry’s collaboration with other government institutions and the private sector helped create job opportunities for citizens, bringing the number of Saudis working in the private sector from 1.7 million in 2019 to a record 2.3 million in 2023; of these, 361,000 had never worked.
Al-Rajhi said: “Before July 2021, we had not localized the real estate professions and activities, and the number of Saudis working in the sector was only 12,000. Two years after taking the decision to localize, we have over 26,000 citizens working in the real estate sector, marking a 116% increase.”
According to Al-Rajhi, the ministry contributed to creating more employment opportunities for Saudis in the real estate sector through the establishment of 12 sectoral councils to develop skills, including the construction and real estate activities council, and launched the national training campaign (Waad) in partnership with the private sector, which pledged to provide 1,155,000 training opportunities for Saudis until the end of 2025.
The minister noted that the government has 123 support and aid programs, the largest of which are for social security beneficiaries, persons with disabilities, and citizen’s account.
Support for these three programs reached over SAR86 billion in 2023, he said, stressing that the ministry is currently working on a “housing and empowerment” initiative that aims to encourage 1,000 families registered with the social security to enroll in empowerment programs that will help transform them from families in need to productive households.
He added that over 1,100 companies registered on the National Social Responsibility Platform; their contributions exceeded SAR1 billion in 10 months since the launch of the platform. The housing sector is the most supported by companies through 21 initiatives worth over SAR677 million, which go to support the most underprivileged segments aided by the ministry.
— SPA
