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RIYADH: The Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF) recently organized a job fair with 21,115 hired in two days out of more than 49,640 applicants from different parts of the Kingdom.
“Successful applicants were offered different jobs by more than 60 local firms in the private sector which participated in the job fair,” said Nawaf Al-Diaiji, HRDF deputy director general.
Local firms which participated in the job fair included banks, educational institutions (such as Dar Al Hekma University) and Riyadh Cables Group, among others.
Al-Diaiji said the exhibition offered opportunities to various applicants who want to join the local labor market, including persons with disabilities.
The government established the HRDF to support the rehabilitation of the national workforce and employment in the private sector.
Al-Diaiji added that based on the feedback received from the companies participating in the job fair, more applicants are expected to be hired.
“The applicants, most of whom are university graduates, were enthusiastic because they’ll be working for the first time after graduation,” she said.
An official of the Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry (CSCCI) said that the new labor recruits will further ease the unemployment rate in the Kingdom.
“The HRDF, like the CSCCI, has been doing its role to create employment opportunities in the private sector and it helps cut unemployment,” he said.
He noted that the unemployment rate decreased to 5.6 percent in the second half of 2015 from 5.7 percent compared to the same period in the previous year.
According to data from the Central Department of Statistics and Information, unemployment averaged 5.52 percent from 1999 to 2015, reaching an all time high of 6.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2006.