المملكة: Urgent: 2.5 million Saudis in the private sector, unemployment reduced to 7.5%… and 700,000 flexible work contracts

The Ministry registered Human resources and social development during the year 2025 is a package of record achievements that established the Kingdom’s global leadership in labor market efficiency.

The nationalization and empowerment strategies succeeded in raising the number of national cadres in the private sector to 2.5 million male and female citizens, which led to a decline in the unemployment rate to historic levels of 7.5%, in parallel with winning international and regional awards that reflect the success of digital transformation and sustainable social development in accordance with the goals of Vision 2030.

The Ministry took decisive steps to enhance qualitative localization by issuing more than 30 decisions targeting the localization of 600 specialized professions in vital sectors such as engineering, pharmacy, dentistry and accounting, which increased the participation rates of Saudis in some professions by a rate ranging between 100% and 300%.

The Ministry strengthened Labour market flexibility by diversifying employment patterns, as its platforms documented more than 700,000 contracts under the “flexible work” system, while the “freelancing” model attracted more than 430,000 active beneficiaries, and 200,000 citizens joined the lists of “remote” workers.

In the path of developing human competencies, the National Training Campaign “Waad” has provided more than two million training opportunities so far, going a long way towards achieving its ultimate goal. 4.5 million opportunities by 2028.

With regard to rights preservation, Notarized contractsthrough the “Qiwa” platform exceeded the barrier of 12 million contracts, serving about 2.9 million establishments, which reflects the amount of trust and reliability in the Kingdom’s contractual environment.

The Ministry made a qualitative shift in the strength of contracts by launching the “Notarized Employment Contract Executive Document” initiative in partnership with the Ministry of Justice, where more than 300,000 executive contracts have been documented since October 2025, which guarantees the rights of the parties without the need for lengthy judicial procedures.

In the domestic workers file, the development measures on the “Musaned” platform succeeded in reducing recruitment times by more than 40%, which reflected positively on the satisfaction of the beneficiaries, which recorded a record rate of 95.86%.

The arm of the organization was extended to raise the efficiency of expatriate workers through the “Professional Accreditation” program, which covered more than 160 countries and a thousand professions, relying on 200 internal and external examination centers to ensure the quality of skills coming to the market. Saudi Arabia.

The supervisory teams intensified their field presence to control the market, carrying out 1.2 million inspection visits until the third quarter of the year, which raised the overall compliance rate of establishments to 93%, and compliance with the wage protection program to 94%.

In the social aspect, the Ministry enabled nearly 100,000 social security beneficiaries to move from need to production, through development program packages aimed at integrating them into the economic cycle and improving their quality of life.

The Ministry paid great attention to people with disabilities, providing financial support to more than 460,000 beneficiaries, home care services for 650 cases, and distributing 30,000 assistive medical devices to 14,000 beneficiaries to enhance their independence.
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The Ministry contributed to the integration of people with disabilities into society by handing over housing units to 84 beneficiaries of comprehensive rehabilitation centers in cooperation with “Municipalities and Housing,” in addition to training a thousand beneficiaries vocationally and launching 71 individual projects of their own.

The major companies have made great strides in social responsibility, with 72% of them adopting community programs, in conjunction with the growth of the cooperative sector to reach 558 cooperative societies covering all regions of the Kingdom.
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The Ministry reaped the fruits of its digital and institutional excellence by winning a package of international awards, most notably 8 awards in the international customer experience, 3 “Marcom” awards, and the Digital Prosperity Award, in addition to Gulf regional awards in government excellence.

The Ministry concluded its year by enhancing government innovation through the “Virtual Branch,” which reduced visits to traditional branches by 95%, and launching the Creative Rooms project to design more effective government business models.