JEDDAH: Labor experts believe there will be a sea change in the Saudi workforce in the next two decades.
It will lead to the demise of many jobs because of changing technology and skills requirement of the labor market. It is estimated that 39 types of jobs will cease to exist.
Hassan Al-Abbadi, HR manager of one of the biggest IT companies, said the reasons behind certain jobs in the Kingdom fading away will be job mergers, economic, social and cultural changes, development and changes in technology in service, changes in future skill trends, no demand for certain occupations, and limited training in other jobs. These developments, some of which are already underway, have led the government to seek new employment-generated opportunities,” he said.
Al-Abbadi said the next two decades will have many changes in the nature of skills that are under threat especially because of the Kingdom’s 2030 Vision which focuses on specific educational outputs.
He said many of the jobs will just fade away because of changing circumstances. Among them will be clerks writing petitions, drivers, telephone operators, traditional salespersons, photograph developers, insurance claims employees, cashiers, data entry clerks, debt collectors, receiver of loan applications, mail receivers, administrative reporter, flight reservation clerks, hotels and tourism program employees, watch repairers and many others.
Traditional work activist Ahmad Abu Taleb Al-Sharif in Jeddah gives other indications as to the dearth of certain occupations which would still exist in changing conditions but only just. This is because of some associations which are still interested in preserving certain traditional crafts. This is also due to the fact that some of its “owners” are still practicing it and have been doing so for more than 40 years. “Many of the past traditional family jobs have not preserved their skills and moved on to more profitable fields which meant such work faded away because of modern technological developments,” he added.
Some of the traditional jobs he mentioned were those of fishermen, cobblers, bakers, goldsmiths, engravers, masons and such like.
Spokesman for the General Organization for Technical and Vocational Training (GOTVT) Fahd Al-Ataibi said the organization seeks to plug the demand of the local labor market in technical jobs and skills by updating different new specializations and including the jobs that are in greater need from employers in the private sector and to support the Saudi market with qualified national cadre.
“GOTVT is following up on the labor market and this opens up the field for new specializations and lower applications for others that are not in demand as we now offer, in our 12 colleges around the Kingdom, Haj and Umrah programs, and mechanical drawing program tailored to meet the needs of Saudi Aramco, and others.”
He added that GOTVT is following up with the Labor and Social Affairs Ministry's decision to Saudize the telecom sector and design and implement training programs on the needs of the sector at the level of the Kingdom with other big international companies related to smartphone manufacture, including with Samsung, and Huawei.
It will lead to the demise of many jobs because of changing technology and skills requirement of the labor market. It is estimated that 39 types of jobs will cease to exist.
Hassan Al-Abbadi, HR manager of one of the biggest IT companies, said the reasons behind certain jobs in the Kingdom fading away will be job mergers, economic, social and cultural changes, development and changes in technology in service, changes in future skill trends, no demand for certain occupations, and limited training in other jobs. These developments, some of which are already underway, have led the government to seek new employment-generated opportunities,” he said.
Al-Abbadi said the next two decades will have many changes in the nature of skills that are under threat especially because of the Kingdom’s 2030 Vision which focuses on specific educational outputs.
He said many of the jobs will just fade away because of changing circumstances. Among them will be clerks writing petitions, drivers, telephone operators, traditional salespersons, photograph developers, insurance claims employees, cashiers, data entry clerks, debt collectors, receiver of loan applications, mail receivers, administrative reporter, flight reservation clerks, hotels and tourism program employees, watch repairers and many others.
Traditional work activist Ahmad Abu Taleb Al-Sharif in Jeddah gives other indications as to the dearth of certain occupations which would still exist in changing conditions but only just. This is because of some associations which are still interested in preserving certain traditional crafts. This is also due to the fact that some of its “owners” are still practicing it and have been doing so for more than 40 years. “Many of the past traditional family jobs have not preserved their skills and moved on to more profitable fields which meant such work faded away because of modern technological developments,” he added.
Some of the traditional jobs he mentioned were those of fishermen, cobblers, bakers, goldsmiths, engravers, masons and such like.
Spokesman for the General Organization for Technical and Vocational Training (GOTVT) Fahd Al-Ataibi said the organization seeks to plug the demand of the local labor market in technical jobs and skills by updating different new specializations and including the jobs that are in greater need from employers in the private sector and to support the Saudi market with qualified national cadre.
“GOTVT is following up on the labor market and this opens up the field for new specializations and lower applications for others that are not in demand as we now offer, in our 12 colleges around the Kingdom, Haj and Umrah programs, and mechanical drawing program tailored to meet the needs of Saudi Aramco, and others.”
He added that GOTVT is following up with the Labor and Social Affairs Ministry's decision to Saudize the telecom sector and design and implement training programs on the needs of the sector at the level of the Kingdom with other big international companies related to smartphone manufacture, including with Samsung, and Huawei.
