Saudi Arabia’s Human Resources Development Fund (HADAF) revealed signing 24 agreements to support employment-related training in high-growth sectors. The value of these agreements amounts to more than SAR1.5 billion riyals or $400 million. HADAF signed the agreements with major national entities in an effort to support the local labor market.
HADAF aims to keep pace with economic growth and labor market prosperity by building partnerships and agreements in promising sectors such as: tourism, entertainment, transportation, logistics services, manufacturing, and cybersecurity. In addition, it develops training, qualification, and empowerment programs.
In addition, it is committed to developing and enhancing the skills and capabilities of citizens and raising their level of participation in the labor market. It also works on supporting the private sector to contribute to Saudization. Moreover, it strengthens partnerships with the entities responsible for training, employing, and empowering national cadres. HADAF also supports job seekers by increasing their competitiveness and ensuring sustainability in the labor market.
Increasing citizens’ participation in the labor market
From the beginning of this year until October, HADAF contributed to supporting the employment of about 330,000 male and female citizens to work in the private sector. Its total investment in training, employment, and empowerment support programs during the same period amounted to about SAR7.5 billion. Hence, around 1.78 million male and female citizens benefited from its programs.
Additionally, the number of establishments benefiting from HADAF’s support programs reached about 104,000 establishments operating in all sectors of Saudi Arabia. HADAF also launched a new strategy at the beginning of the year that seeks to achieve 3 main goals:
- Promoting national human capital development to meet evolving labor market requirements
- Improving the alignment of workforce supply and demand
- Promoting sustainable employment in the private sector
Programs supporting the Saudi labor market
To date, HADAF has created 8 developed and focused programs that include several products and responses to labor market changes. In addition, the programs improve the beneficiary’s experience and cover all aspects of the fund’s interventions. This includes providing guidance and training and enabling job opportunities.
Managed by HADAF, the unified national employment platform Jadarat, also works on supporting job seekers. It enables them to enter the market, integrate into it, and have access to recruitment activities. The platform connects job seekers with opportunities available in the public and private sectors. This is achieved through seamless and comprehensive digital alignment that is effective, accurate, and transparent in creating these opportunities.
Read: Saudi Arabia signs 4 agreements to expand industrial cooperation with Korea
Vital sectors
HADAF concluded agreements with 5 governmental and private agencies to train, qualify, and employ 50,000 male and female citizens in various sectors. The agreements included the Ministry of Health, NEOM, Riyadh Air, Rua Al Madinah, and the National Academy for Military Industries. This came during its participation in the Global Labor Market Conference in Riyadh.
Since its establishment in 2,000, HADAF has been working on raising the skills of national human resources and providing them with the needed knowledge. It also qualifies them and aligns them with the needs of the labor market and jobs. This is to improve the human resources system in the Kingdom by employing visions and drawing future directions for the Saudi labor market.
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