Dr. Ali ibn Nasser Al-Ghifais has said it will encourage technical and vocational training councils all over the Kingdom to form partnerships with the private sector as part of the “Towards an Effective Partnership” strategy.

He was addressing a forum on technical and vocational training and the labor market last Tuesday in Yanbu.

Al-Ghifais said the organization will help young men and women establish their own small enterprises. He asked the private sector to open its doors to graduates of technical and vocational training institutes. He cited the example of Savola, which employed 4,000 Saudi youths, of whom 2,000 were disabled.

Earlier this year, the Ministry of Labor pressed for increasing the minimum monthly salary of Saudi workers employed in the private sector to SR1,500. Also, the Shoura Council presented proposals to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah to resolve the country’s unemployment problem. It pushed to increase the unemployment allowance of SR1,000 monthly to an estimated 500,000 jobless Saudis.