The Care Boom: Addressing Care Through Technical and Vocational Education in Saudi Arabia

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Table of Contents

• Executive 12
• Summary 12
• 1 20
• Introduction: 20
• The Care Economy is Important 20
• Box 1 26
• The Technical and Vocational Training Corporation 26
• 2 29
• The demand for care: it’s growing rapidly 29
• Recent growth in the population of children has added pressure to Saudi Arabia’s care sector 30
• The population of older persons is increasing 32
• Box 2 34
• Projected impact of aging population on noncommunicable disease burden and costs in Saudi Arabia, 2020–30. 34
• The population of people with disabilities is expected to grow as the population ages 36
• The shifting population composition is increasing the demand for care 38
• 3 42
• The care provision landscape: too many untrained and unpaid workers and too few professionals 42
• Unpaid care work: Women do much of the care work without pay 43
• Paid care work: untrained providers make up almost half the care workforce 47
• Care workers in childcare 47
• Care workers in health and social work 50
• Box 3 54
• Saudi Arabia’s new model of healthcare 54
• Untrained care providers: Domestic workers are the dominant source of paid care 57
• 4 61
• Professional care services are falling short: Labor shortages and skills are to blame 61
• Care service provision: the missing professionals 62
• Care professions are in high demand: just look at wage growth and hiring 67
• Skills development for the care economy in Saudi Arabia 73
• 5 78
• Equipping the care workforce: international experience has lessons for Saudi Arabia 78
• Skills development for care workers in childcare and education 80
• Skills development for long-term care of older persons and people with severe illnesses 82
• Skills development for care workers in the health sector for people with health issues and people with disabilities 83
• Skills development for care workers in social services for fragile and vulnerable groups 85
• Developing a comprehensive care strategy 86
• Training 87
• Migration, skills-mobility partnerships, and training of migrants 89
• Working conditions 90
• 6 92
• Policy reform areas: TVTC can play an important role 92
• Bibliography 102
• Annex 108
• Annex I 108
• Annex II 110
• Recent reforms in the country 93
• Recommendations 95
• Assess current training needs and the existing training provision 96
• Increase training opportunities within the care sector 97
• Diversify curricula and courses to include care and care modules 99
• Engage with partner organizations and stakeholders to respond to emerging skills needs 100
• Implementation considerations 101
• Bibliography 102
• Annex 108
• Annex I 108
• List of International Standard Classification of Occupations in care as defined by the ILO and OECD 108
• Annex II 110
• Care workers in education 110
• 108 9
• 108 9
• Figure ES 1 Population under 14 and over 65 years old, historical and projected, Saudi Arabia 14
• Figure ES 2 Labor force participation rate in Saudi Arabia, female, by age (%) 15
• Figure ES 3 Care-workforce composition by country 17
• Figure ES 4 Framework for meeting demand for care through TVET education 18
• Figure 1 Infographic: Who are the main care recipients? 21
• Figure 2 The main care providers are unpaid or paid 22
• Figure 3 Key challenges in Saudi Arabia’s care economy 24
• Figure 4 Framework for meeting demand for care through TVET education 25
• Figure 5 TVTC training offer related to the care economy 27
• Figure 6 Population under 14 and over 65 years old, historical and projected, Saudi Arabia 30
• Figure 7 Population in Saudi Arabia by age group, children aged 0–14, 2010–20 31
• Figure 8 Projected population in Saudi Arabia by age group, children aged 0–14, 2020–50 31
• Figure 9 Population aged 65+ in Saudi Arabia, by age group, 2010–20 32
• Figure 10 Projected population aged 65+ in Saudi Arabia, by age group, 2020–50 32
• Figure 11 Population composition by region, current and projected 33
• Figure 12 Annual healthcare costs for priority noncommunicable diseases among people aged ≥ 15 years, 2020–30 35
• Figure 13 Prevalence of disabilities among Saudis facing some level of difficulty, by age group 36
• Figure 14 Prevalence of disability, by World Health Organization region, 2021 37
• Figure 15. Change in prevalence of health conditions associated with moderate and severe levels of disability, globally, 2010 and 2021 37
• Figure 16 Population composition in Saudi Arabia, current and projected 38
• Figure 17 Age dependency ratios (% of working-age population) in Saudi Arabia—current and projected 39
• Figure 18 Age dependency ratios (% of working-age population) in Arab states—current and projected 39
• Figure 19 Population in Saudi Arabia by age and nationality, 2022 40
• Figure 20 Percentage of households with dependents, 2022 40
• Figure 21 Visual of classification of care providers 43
• Figure 22 Proportion of time spent on unpaid domestic and care work, female (% of 24-hour day)—latest available year 44
• Figure 23 Labor force participation rate in Saudi Arabia, female, by age (%) 46
• Figure 24 School enrollment, pre-primary (% gross), by World Bank region 49
• Figure 25 Distribution of employment by economic activity, human-health and social work activities (ISIC REV 4)—high-income countries by region, 2021 51
• Figure 26 Density of health personnel (per 10,000 population), 2012–20, in OECD countries and Saudi Arabia 52
• Figure 27 The new model of care 55
• Figure 28 Mapping of social service workforce by type of ministry under which they operate (number of countries, by region and by type of ministry) 56
• Figure 29 Care-workforce composition by country 58
• Figure 30 Number of domestic workers in Saudi Arabia 59
• Figure 31 Care workers as a share of total employed (%), 2012–16 59
• Figure 32 Size of trained care workforce x care dependency ratios 63
• Figure 33 Skills shortage by industry in 33 countries 66
• Figure 34 Shortage and surplus of skills by country and type of skill, health, and social work activities (NACE) 67
• Figure 35 Shortage and surplus of skills by country and type of skill, education industry (NACE) 67
• Table 1 Labor-market-pressure-analysis framework 68
• Table 2 Summary of observations for the market-pressure analysis 68
• Figure 36 Shortage occupations in care (or care-related) industries based on wage and job growth for Saudi nationals (2013–19) 70
• Figure 37 Shortage occupations in care (or care-related) industries based on wage and job growth for non-Saudi nationals (2013–19) 71
• Figure 38 Market-pressure analysis applied to the care economy, Saudi Nationals 72
• Figure 39 Size of care workforce × GDP per capita (2015 USD PPP) 74
• Figure 40 Women, % of total employed in health and social work 75
• Figure 41 Women, % of total employed in education 75
• Figure 42 Average monthly wage by education and nationality, Saudi Arabia, 2022 (in SAR) 76
• Figure 43 Examples from Europe in training care and care-related occupations in TVET settings 80
• Figure 44 Education-level profiles of care workers in education and in healthcare and social work 81
• Table 3 Medical technical assistant length of training examples 85
• Figure 45 Framework proposed for meeting demand for care through TVET 96