Saudization Agency
Saudization Agency (Agency) at the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development (HRSD) works on delivering Saudization programs for the economic sectors and activities that are attractive for Saudis and supporting their engagement in the labor market in line with their qualifications and the competitive advantage of each sector or are and contributing to providing more valuable job opportunities for Saudi citizens.
Functions of the Agency:
Supervising the study and prioritizing the Saudization targeted activities in coordination with the relevant authorities in accordance with the HRSD strategic objectives and approved Saudization policies.
Researching and studying the topics and challenges against introducing jobs in the governmental and private sector projects within the framework of economic development plans and projects of the Kingdom.
Agency Goals:
Proposing the plans and policies related to employing Saudi citizens and Saudizing the jobs in the private sector based on the Labor Law, Royal Decrees, and other instructions related to job Saudization.
Supervising the development of mechanisms for coordination among the governmental and private authorities concerned with the labor market, enhancing addressing the employment cases, introducing jobs, increasing job opportunities in the governmental and private projects, and following up the implementation of such mechanisms.
Supervising the design, development, and implementation of sectoral and territorial Saudization programs.
Agency Initiatives:
Saudization of Services Sector:
Target the services sector: (Health, communication, information technology, tourism accommodation, advocacy, and legal consultancies, education, insurance and banking services, entertainment, tourism, and other sectors)
This work has resulted in many initiatives (sectoral initiatives/professions Saudization initiatives):
The health sector aims at saudizing 40 thousand Saudi human resources (practitioners / non-practitioners) in the health private sector.
Communication and information technology, which aims at saudizing 15.6 thousand Saudi human resources (technical / technician) in the communication and information technology sector.
Tourism accommodation, which aims at saudizing 8 thousand Saudi human resources in many professions and different departments in the sector at different levels starting from the (first job) to the hotel deputy manager.
Advocacy and legal consultancy, which aims at saudizing 6 thousand human resources practicing advocacy and legal consultancy.
Education sector, which aims at increasing Saudization percentage in education private sector (higher and postgraduate), finding the human resources qualified for occupying such professions and saudizing the administrative, supervisory and supporting jobs.
Insurance sector; the initiative aims at working on regulating the sector, increasing the Saudization percentage in cooperation with the supervisory authority and introducing domains related to the sector.
Dental professions Saudization; the initiative aims at increasing the number of dental professions practitioners at about 3 thousand practitioners in the private sector.
Pharmaceutical professions Saudization; the initiative aims at increasing the number of pharmaceutical professions and relevant specialties practitioners at about 4 thousand practitioners during the next two years.
Agency Programs:
Flexible Work:
The program enables those looking for a job and employers to conclude flexible employment contracts, as the labor receives here wage on an hourly basis (minimum wage unit) without commitment to any other benefits. There are no (paid leaves, end of service benefits, overtime is not applied). To review the program, click here.
Program Objectives:
Introducing a new type of jobs to enable those looking for a job to get engaged in the labor market and increase their opportunities for getting a permanent job.
Empowering those looking for a job to upgrade their skills and experience prior to transforming them into permanent labor.
Helping the private sector meet the emergency, temporary and seasonal needs of the national human resources.
Reducing the number of expatriate labor employed in the shadow economy.
Encouraging the employers to hire those looking for a job in consideration of the hourly wage without any other obligations.
Increasing the percentage of national human resources and reducing unemployment.
Regulating the works that require flexible contracts, which have no regulations.
Increasing the private sector productivity and providing contracts more appropriate for the productivity needs.
Helping the private sector meet the emergency and seasonal needs of the national human resources.
Empowering women to work and benefit from the available and flexible opportunities.
Remote Work:
It is one of the important national initiatives launched by the HRSD to bridge the pap between employers and those looking for a job whose obstacles prevent them from getting the appropriate job opportunities, which contributes to increasing the job opportunities, providing a lower-cost employment option for the employers and benefiting from the national human resources. To review the program, click here.
Program Objectives:
Creating job opportunities for laborers who have obstacles preventing them from engagement in the labor market (transportation, geographical distance, and others).
Providing a lower-cost employment option for employers.
distributing the economic development by providing job opportunities in non-main areas.
Regulating and stimulating the labor market by qualifying and certifying the service providers to provide the best services and regulations for remote work.
Freelancing:
HRSD has launched freelancing documents service within its initiative for improving and developing the freelancing environment and keeping up with the new and future work patterns in the local and international labor market. It also aims at empowering those looking for a job to gain the skills and experience appropriate for the needs of the labor market and empowering the beneficiaries to register and obtain the document via a freelancing platform. It is expected that this Program will contribute to providing attractive and sustainable career paths that contribute to increasing the Saudization percentages. To review the Program, click here.
Program Objectives:
Providing and diversifying the opportunities for those looking for a job.
Contributing to providing income opportunities for individuals or increasing the labor income.
Authentication, reliability, and increase of sector safety.
Preparing official statistics by creating a freelancing database.
Raising the community awareness about the concept of freelancing and available opportunities.
Empowering those interested in freelancing practice.
Providing the possibility of registration in optional subscription in social insurance - pension branch.
Providing stimulative solutions for practicing freelancing such as financial products and in-kind discounts.
Agency Projects:
Saudization of sales outlets in 12 economic sub-activities of retail and wholesale.
On Jumada I 11, 1439 AH, HRSD issued a Decision to Saudize 70% of sales outlets restricting work to Saudis in outlets for 12 retail and wholesale activities. The decision entered into force as of 01/01/1440 AH. The 12 work areas banned for ex-pats are:
“Watch shops, optical stores, medical equipment stores, electrical and electronics shops, outlets selling car spare parts, building material shops, outlets selling all types of carpets, automobile, and mobile phone shops, shops selling home furniture and ready-made office material, sales outlets of ready-made garments, children clothes, and men’s supplies, household utensils shops and pastry shops.” HRSD has also issued the Saudization Guidelines for Sales Outlets, which include the Saudized and excluded activities in detail, as well as the Saudization general conditions and FAQs.
Saudization of sales outlets in 9 economic sub-activities of retail and wholesale
On Rajab 10, 1441 AH, HRSD issued a decision to Saudize 70 percent of the retail and wholesale outlets of nine major economic activities effective from Aug. 20, 2020 (Muharram 1, 1442)
“Selling coffee, tea, honey, sugar, and spices; water and beverages; fruits, vegetables, and dates; selling grains, seeds, flowers, plants, and agricultural materials; selling books, stationery and student services; gift and luxury stores, accessories, handicrafts, and antiques; selling toys; selling meat, fish, eggs, dairy, vegetable oil; and detergent, plastic, and soap.”
HRSD has also issued the Saudization Guidelines for Sales Outlets, which include the Saudized and excluded activities in detail, as well as the Saudization general conditions and FAQs.
To review the Saudization Guidelines for Sales Outlets: Click here
Registration of expatriate practitioners of accounting professions with SOCPA
In order to improve the quality and efficiency of the accountant professionals in Saudi Arabia, the HRSD requires the registration for ex-pats working on accountant and finance jobs for membership & Professional Registration from the Saudi Organization for Certified Public Accountants (SOCPA) as of 01/01/1441 AH corresponding to 31/08/2019 AD. The procedure includes auditing the ex-pats working on accountant and finance jobs for membership & Professional Registration from Saudi Organization for Certified Public Accountants (SOCPA) to issue visas and licenses. Moreover, HRSD requires the ex-pats working on accountant and finance jobs, complementary and supporting professions to be certified by SOCPA when they modify the profession, and issue or renew Work Licenses.
This aims at upgrading the quality and efficiency of the ex-pats working on accountant and finance jobs and enhancing the national economy through cooperation and public-private sector partnership.
Application for professional registration:
Each individual who desires to apply for professional registration shall visit SOCPA electronic services website and register as follows: Click here, to visit the website to review the professional registration conditions: Click here.