Updated Version of Saudi ‘Nitaqat’ Program Aims to Provide 340,000 jobs by 2024

The second version of Nitaqat has been launched with a goal to provide 340,000 jobs by 2024. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The second version of Nitaqat has been launched with a goal to provide 340,000 jobs by 2024. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Updated Version of Saudi ‘Nitaqat’ Program Aims to Provide 340,000 jobs by 2024

The second version of Nitaqat has been launched with a goal to provide 340,000 jobs by 2024. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The second version of Nitaqat has been launched with a goal to provide 340,000 jobs by 2024. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

The second version of Nitaqat, the Saudi Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development’s Saudization program, has been launched with a goal to provide 340,000 jobs by 2024.

Inaugurating the program, Minister of Labor and Social Development Ahmad al-Rajhi revealed that it aims at developing and increasing the efficiency of the labor market and providing job opportunities to Saudis.

The latest version of the Nitaqat program boasts three new features.

The first is a localization plan with a clear and transparent vision for the next three years, with the aim of increasing the organizational stability of private sector institutions.

The second part of the updated program will use a linear formula that is properly associated with the number of employees at an institution, instead of current localization rates that rely on classifying institutions into certain and fixed sizes.

The third update simplifies the design of the program and improves the client experience by merging activities with similar characteristics into 32 choices instead of 85.

Nitaqat was launched in 2011 to encourage the localization of jobs and set a minimum wage for Saudis in the private sector. The program’s first step was increasing the minimum wage to SAR3,000 ($800).

It was later raised to SAR4,000 ($1,000) during the beginning of the second quarter of this year.



UN Trade Agency: New Trade War Deadline Prolongs Instability

Workers inspect imported stones at a marble factory in Kishangarh, in India's Rajasthan state on July 8, 2025. (Photo by HIMANSHU SHARMA / AFP)
Workers inspect imported stones at a marble factory in Kishangarh, in India's Rajasthan state on July 8, 2025. (Photo by HIMANSHU SHARMA / AFP)
TT

UN Trade Agency: New Trade War Deadline Prolongs Instability

Workers inspect imported stones at a marble factory in Kishangarh, in India's Rajasthan state on July 8, 2025. (Photo by HIMANSHU SHARMA / AFP)
Workers inspect imported stones at a marble factory in Kishangarh, in India's Rajasthan state on July 8, 2025. (Photo by HIMANSHU SHARMA / AFP)

The Trump administration's decision to extend a negotiating deadline for tariff rates is prolonging uncertainty and instability for countries, the executive director of the United Nations trade agency said on Tuesday.

US President Donald Trump on Monday ramped up his trade war, telling 14 nations, from powerhouse suppliers such as Japan and South Korea to minor trade players, that they now face sharply higher tariffs from a new deadline of August 1.

"This move actually extends the period of uncertainty, undermining long-term investment and business contracts, and creating further uncertainty and instability," Pamela Coke-Hamilton, executive director of the International Trade Centre, told reporters in Geneva, according to Reuters.

"If a business is not clear on what costs they are going to pay, they cannot plan, they cannot decide on who will invest," Coke-Hamilton said, citing the example of Lesotho, where major textile exporting companies have withheld their investment for the time being, pending a tariff outcome.

The uncertainty, combined with deep cuts in development aid, had created a "dual shock" for developing countries, she added.

Countries have been under pressure to conclude deals with the US after Trump unleashed a global trade war in April that roiled financial markets and sent policymakers scrambling to protect their economies.