A recent report about a job advert to recruit 30 female train drivers attracting 28,000 applicants in Saudi Arabia made global headlines for many reasons. Some commented that such an enthusiastic response to the advertised jobs could only have occurred due to the ongoing measures the Kingdom is taking to empower women in all spheres of life. It would be instructive to note that Saudi women were legally allowed to drive in 2018. Others commented that such a huge response indicated a pent-up demand for work opportunities among Saudi women, notwithstanding the romanticism associated with long-distance train journeys such as the Moscow to Beijing Trans Siberian Railroad or the London to Venice Orient Express. In Saudi Arabia, the 30 selected female drivers will drive somewhat faster bullet trains between the cities of Makkah and Madinah operated by the Spanish railway operator Renfe, after a year of paid training. Inter-GCC and cross-country rail links in the Kingdom will open up more opportunities in the future for both male and female drivers. The enthusiasm for this hitherto male-dominated sector is that job opportunities for Saudi women, have until recently, been limited to roles such as teachers and health workers. Things are, however, changing for the better as Saudi women are now joining the financial sector, and taking up jobs previously restricted to men or migrant workers whether as private taxi service drivers or airline hostesses. The opening up of the Saudi tourism and hospitality sector has also attracted significant Saudi female interest. All these factors have led to the doubling of female participation in the Saudi workforce in the last five years to around 33 percent. The trend of lower youth unemployment is also encouraging for the 20-24 year group, which fell to 23.6 percent from 28 percent in the first quarter of 2021. However, Saudi female unemployment rates remain higher than males, with the female rate at 21.2 percent in Q1 2021, compared with 7.2 percent for males in the same period. However, the opening up of opportunities for Saudi females has reduced the overall female unemployment rate from 24.4 percent in Q4 2020 to the latest estimate of 21.2 percent according to the official data. Despite such an improvement, the overall Saudi female labor force participation rate remains stubbornly higher than that of males at 32.3 percent in Q1 2021 compared with 66.2 percent males. Diversifying the Saudi economy away from oil dependency and public sector jobs continue to be a major objective for Saudi Arabia. The latest official data indicates that in Q1 2021, around 54 percent of all Saudis held jobs in the public sector versus 44 percent in the private sector. Speedier recovery from the pandemic-related restrictions and a more optimistic outlook by the private sector is predicted to improve the overall private sector participation rate, with the unemployment rate forecast to decline to 10.3 percent by the end of 2022. What is of interest is that while almost 60 percent of those employed in the public sector were Saudi males, this was reversed in the private sector, where almost 60 percent were Saudi female employees indicating an increasing trend for the Saudi private sector to prefer Saudi female employees, especially in health and social work, education, wholesale and retail. A post-pandemic pickup in tourism in Q2 2022 should also help boost seasonal employment in the Kingdom, particularly for qualified female workers. Not to be outdone by the enthusiastic female response to the train driver recruitment drive the Red Sea Development Co. has had over 40,000 job applicants and recruited the first batch of 60 graduates noting its tourism’s transformational potential to create 120,000 direct and indirect jobs. There are currently 1,500-employees with more than 50 percent comprising Saudi nationals. Other sectoral areas such as accommodation and food, administration support, and even manufacturing have seen a steady increase in female participation, as well as in previously male-dominated sectors such as technical activities. The opening up of the Saudi economy with constant reminders of mega value projects and initiatives promising an optimistic vision of the future where everything is seemingly possible for both genders has raised high expectations for jobs from a relatively youthful population, as the overwhelming response of 28,000 applicants for 30 female train drivers has highlighted. There is now a need for urgency for a significant increase in new and consistent job creation for both genders, particularly in the private sector. The announced and planned megaprojects have to ensure that labor localization programs are central to such projects, especially for government contract awards to the private sector to avoid frustration and disappointment at the lack of meaningful new job opportunities. • Dr. Mohamed Ramady is a former senior banker and professor of finance and economics, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran. Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not necessarily reflect Arab News" point-of-view