Private sector must employ 4m Saudis by 2030, says study

Saudi Arabia’s private sector will need to employ 4.1 million Saudi nationals by 2030 as part of its diversification plans, according to a study by Oxford Consulting Group.

The study suggested that the private and public sectors combined would need to provide jobs for eight million Saudis within 15 years, in line with the the kingdom’s Vision 2030 ambitions. The initiative aims to improve diversification across the country in order to reduce and eventually remove its dependence on oil – a key part of which will be increased employment in non-oil sectors.

Saudi nationals currently represent 16 per cent of total employees in the private sector, said the report.

The Saudi labour force is currently about 6.4 million, split between 4.2 million in the public sector and 1.6 million in the private sector, according to the report. With up to 40 per cent of the nation’s 300,000 graduates per year joining to job market each year, the labour force will rise to about 8 million by 2030.

The report highlighted the need for human resource departments to help Saudis enter the labour market, particularly the industrial sector. In the military industrial sector, for example, the authors showed that out of 190,000 workers only 4,000 are Saudi nationals. With predicted domestic spending to reach $28.5bn, the industry could employ about 95,000 citizens.