Business & Money | Monday 6 March, 2017 8:59 am |

Saudi youth are primed to take on the half-million jobs that are expected to be created from nationwide digital transformation by 2020, experts commented today on a recent report by The Economist Corporate Network. The Kingdom faces a crucial juncture in its economic growth and youth employment. Through 2025, the Kingdom will see 226,000 new entrants into the labor market per year, with the Saudi working age population reaching 17.9 million, according to the report “Shaping the Future of Work.” Digitization is the fourth Industrial Revolution, and the Saudi government has one of the world’s most ambitious plans for using digitization to boost employment. Saudi Millennials are the best-connected and best-educated generation in history, and partnerships across the public, private, academic sectors will ensure that they are ready to take on the Digital Economy challenges of tomorrow,” said Ahmed Al-Faifi, Managing Director for Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Bahrain at future government enabler SAP, which works with over 4,500 global governments and 1,000 Saudi partners. The National Transformation Program 2020 aims to foster 450,000 new private sector jobs by 2020. In response, experts are calling on the Saudi government to adopt a digital career platform that can analyze employer and applicant data to connect workers to careers and job training programs. By embracing Internet of Things innovations, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and blockchain, the Saudi government can match youth to careers, upskill talent to meet business needs, and enhance regulations so employers can find the right people at the right time,” added Ahmed Al-Faifi. Encouragingly, the Kingdom’s youth are well-positioned to meet government goals. Saudi youth rank second among their peers in the Middle East and North Africa in preferring private sector rather than public sector careers, according to “Shaping the Future of Work”. Digital transformation is not only helping the Saudi government to develop talent, but also foster innovations such as e-government services, digital patient records, and e-learning.