The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia experienced a high rate of unemployment at 6.30 per cent in 2016. In order to provide income security to these groups, the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia established the Saudi National Unemployment Assistance scheme (SNUA), or Hazif program, in 2011 in order to provide basic income security to working-age Saudi Arabians. The SNUA is an Internet based ‘e-employment’ assistance programme managed by the national Human Resources Development Fund.
Saudi Arabia’s SNAU is a targeted programme available to unemployed persons between 20 and 35 years of age with an income or social insurance benefit above SAR 2,000, or USD 533. Claimants must also be Saudi, or have a Saudi mother, and must have lived in Saudi Arabia for at least 10 months over the previous 12 months before making a claim. In order to be eligible, claimants must also build an electronic curriculum vitae and complete e-training courses, and in turn also receive access to an employment database including 400 public and private agencies. As of April 2012, the program had 1.16 million beneficiaries, of which about 84 per cent were women. The Hafiz rules also gives priority disabled jobseekers.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia makes strong investments in the Hafiz e-employment assistance program with the aim to strengthen commitment to gender equity and youth empowerment. The unemployment insurance scheme targets unemployed youth and Saudi citizens; however residents and migrants are not included in the scheme. Nonetheless, South Saudi Arabia’s Hafiz program provides basic income security young people of working-age and encourages employment for first-time jobseekers.
Further Reading:
International Telecommunication Union (2012). WSIS Stocktaking: Success Stories 2012, Version 1.0. Accessed from https://www.itu.int/net/wsis/stocktaking/docs/reports/S-POL-WSIS.SUCC_STORIES-2012-PDF-E.pdf on December 2016, pages 67 - 74.