Riyadh, May 23, 2021, SPA – Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development has launched the developed Nitaqat Program, which is one of the most important pillars of the ministry’s strategic transformation initiatives and the most harmonious with the labor market strategy that aims at developing and increasing the efficiency of the labor market, providing decent and attractive jobs for citizens, and increasing the share of their contribution to the labor market. The developed Nitaqat Program offers three basic characteristics: First, a localization plan with clear and transparent visions for the next three years with the aim of increasing the organizational stability at private sector institutions. Meanwhile, the second relies on the positive correlation between the number of employees and the required localization rates for each institution through a linear formula that is properly associated with the number of employees at an institution, instead of the current localization rates that rely on classifying institutions into certain and fixed sized. The third simplifies the design of the program and improves the client experience through merging the classifications of activities with joint characters into 32 activities instead of 85 activities in ranges. This program accords with other localization programs that have been launched by the Ministry, and this program will contribute to providing more than 340,000 jobs by 2024. The Ministry stressed that the program was developed in partnership with relevant public bodies and the private sector that is considered a main partner in designing the labor market decisions. It is worth mentioning that the first version of the Nitaqat Program was launched in 2011 to stimulate the localization of jobs and set a minimum wage for Saudis in the private sector, where the first step was increasing the minimum wage to 3,000 Saudi riyals then to 4,000 Saudi riyals at the beginning of the second quarter of this year. --SPA 13:54 LOCAL TIME 10:54 GMT 0013 www.spa.gov.sa/w1561042