The crown prince said that unemployment in Saudi Arabia at the beginning of Vision 2030 was about 14 percent RIYADH: Saudi Arabia stepped up localization efforts in the first quarter as the proportion of Saudis in the Kingdom’s workforce rose to 22.75 percent. That compares with 20.37 percent during the same period a year ago, according to the National Labor Observatory (NLO) of the Human Resources Development Fund (Hadaf). It represents a steady increase from 2017 when the localization rate was 16.46 percent, rising to 18.61 percent a year later and 20.21 percent in 2019, SPA reported. Gulf states are stepping up efforts to reduce reliance on expatriates and provide more jobs for citizens as part of wider economic reform efforts aimed at reducing reliance on the oil industry. That process is especially visible in Saudi Arabia, the region’s largest economy. In a wide-ranging TV interview to mark the fifth anniversary of the Saudi Vision 2030 strategy, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday highlighted the Kingdom’s progress in tackling unemployment. The crown prince said that unemployment in Saudi Arabia at the beginning of Vision 2030 was about 14 percent. “In the first quarter of 2020 we reached 11 percent. Because of the pandemic unemployment increased. We were the sixth best country in the G20 in terms of performance and unemployment, but in the last part of the fourth quarter of 2021 we were back to 12 percent,” he said, adding that figure would continue to fall as more Saudis enter the workforce. The new NLO data reveals that the Eastern Region achieved first place in job localization efforts with a rate of 25.7 percent. It was followed by Riyadh at 24.5 percent and Makkah at 21.4 percent. Madinah and Asir rounded out the top five regions for localization at 19.3 percent and 17.5 percent respectively.