Saudi Arabia enacts new rules to offer financial assistance to job seekers

By Shilpa Annie Joseph, Official Reporter
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Job Seekers
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Saudi authorities have released the specifics of a new regulation providing job seekers with subsidies, which was recently approved by the Saudi Council of Ministers.

As per the reports, monthly financial aid for job seekers will be disbursed for 15 months on category payments under the new law.

The beneficiary would receive $533 (SAR2,000) for the first four months, then $399 (SAR1,500) for the next four months, then $266 (SAR1,000) for another four months, with the beneficiaries receiving $199 (SAR750) in the last three months.

The law seeks to assist male and female job seekers between the ages of 20 and 40 who are having difficulty finding work. The regulation provides beneficiaries with an integrated support or subsidy scheme that includes training and qualification, as well as monthly financial assistance as a form of encouragement in their serious job search.

This regulation replaces the regulation of the job search subsidy adopted by the Cabinet nearly 10 years ago and the hardship regulation of the financial provision for difficulty in obtaining work approved seven years ago.

The Human Resources Development Fund (HADAF) has stated that the new regulation providing job seekers with subsidies would help to improve the efficiency of the fund’s services, which include training and qualifying male and female Saudi job seekers to allow them to take up jobs and improve their readiness to enter the labor market.

According to HADAF, the new law aims to help job seekers and encourage them to enter the labor market, improve the quality of services and recovery and training programs offered to them, and optimize their gains from those services. In addition, the regulation aids the beneficiaries in their job quest and improves their readiness to work.

HADAF has remarked that the regulation would help to reduce beneficiaries’ reliance on unauthorized people to update their data electronically or to access the confidentiality of their data. It will also help those who do not benefit from financial support to have training and employment services provided by the fund.

Related: Saudi Arabia initiates wage subsidy program to localize industrial sector

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