A forum on the role of human resources in technology transfers, held Sunday at the Asharqia Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Eastern Province, revealed that the rapid growth of the Kingdom's population will require more jobs to serve the needs of the increasing number of citizens and the expatriate communities. Ali Al-Ghufais, Governor of the Technical and Vocation Training Corporation (TVTC), addressing the forum, said population growth is exerting tremendous pressure on the need to get people more employed. “By the year 2020, we need to provide four million more jobs,” he said. The Ministry of Planning statistics show that by the year 2020, the population of Saudi Arabia will reach 33.5 million, made up of 29.7 million Saudis and 3.8 million expatriates. Al-Ghufais said government job training programs would be able to generate the four million jobs, adding that during the next ten years the training corporation will be able to train more Saudis to fill in the four million job requirements. The Ministry of Labor has ongoing programs to find employment to unemployed citizens, particularly jobs in the oil, gas, and industrial sectors. Government agencies, including the Ministry of Higher Education, Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, the Manpower Development Fund, General Organization for Social Insurance, and the Technical and Vocation Training Corporation, are coordinating in placing Saudis in the job market.
