The Ministry of Labor has announced plans to find jobs for 100,000 handicapped Saudi men and women.
“The number of handicapped people registered with the ministry’s Hafiz program for the unemployed has reached more than 183,000 with women accounting for 60 percent of the total,” said Mirfat Tashkandi, an adviser to Labor Minister Adel Fakeih.
She estimated the total number of Saudi nationals with special needs at 4.15 million.
“The main problem facing this group of Saudi nationals to get employed is lack of transportation,” Tashkandi.
She made her remarks at a women’s conference on social entrepreneurship in Alkhobar.
She said among the 183,000 handicapped men and women registered with Hafiz, more than 100,000 are capable of doing jobs if they are given proper training and guidance.
Jobseekers among the handicapped women are in the age group of 22-35 and have secondary and university education, she pointed out.
Tashkandi said efforts are under way to create better job conditions for the handicapped with the support of Social Affairs Ministry and other relevant departments.
“A new program named Tawafuk has been devised to get the handicapped employed in the private sector with the support of the Human Resource Development Fund,” she added.
In a message to the conference, Labor Minister Fakeih said the unemployment rate among Saudi women has reached 36 percent despite his ministry’s efforts to create more job opportunities for them.
He said jobless rate among Saudi men had been brought down to 6.1 percent thanks to the ministry’s Saudization drive including Nitaqat program.
As many as 200,000 women have been employed in the private sector during the past years, including 160,000 in less than two years.
“The ministry has presented solutions for employment of women in various sectors following Shariah regulations,” he said.
