Human Resource Management Research 2016, 6(1): 1-5 DOI: 10.5923/j.hrmr.20160601.01 Exploring Recent Saudi Human Capital Development Initiatives: An Evaluation Deepanjana Varshney HRM department, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Abstract One of the major challenges of Saudi Arabia is an acute shortage of skilled and unskilled domestic work force. However, the country has been making intense efforts to address the human capital development challenges to match the needs of the labor market. This gradual transition from an oil-based to a knowledge-based economy calls for a radical increase in the country's human capital at a short span of time. This paper aims to analyze the recent initiatives in the human capital development of the country. Herein the labor force pattern has been evaluated in terms of its deployment according to the different demographic parameters over the period of time. The results of the study reveals an over-reliance on expatriate workforce, and oil and consequently there are serious efforts towards developing a knowledge-based economy and competent local workforce. Select discussion of cases of latest HRD programs highlight the salient goals, eventual proposals with future implications. Keywords Competency, Human Capital, Labor, Saudi Arabia, Skill 1. Introduction [1] describes human capital as the distinct or a talented group of employees who enjoy enhanced high-end knowledge and expertise that will enable them to renewed tender and transform the organization's resources to the possibilities of practical levels of advanced process capabilities. Additionally, [2] has rightly focused on the significance of building human capital requirements, which consists of the creation of suitable environment, blend, scientific research, ingraining the concept of knowledge and the creation of a knowledge base. According to [3], in high -income countries human capital constitutes 80 per cent of the total wealth and this huge amount of capital takes a long time to gather. Human capital does not simply spring out of newly built schools and universities. It is the result of a society-wide long- term process in which not only the formal education system but also families and workplaces play a major role. Along with cognitive ability, intrinsic motivation for learning and working, initiative, thrift, and perseverance determine how fast human capital accumulates in society. 2. Background * Corresponding author: facultydv@gmail.com (Deepanjana Varshney) Published online at http://journal.sapub.org/hrmr Copyright © 2016 Scientific & Academic Publishing. All Rights Reserved A study of the Saudi human capital context reveals severe challenges. In year 2014, Saudi population growth rate was 2.10% and Saudi’s unemployment rate (>15 years) was 11.70% [4]. Ironically, it has been also found that the job market cannot cater to the demands and the unemployment rates have been mostly stagnant for last 2-3 years. The youth and the females are the most affected by unemployment where 59.2% of Saudis between the ages of 25 and 39 years have been unemployed followed by 35% of Saudis aged between 20 to 24 years .Apart from this, Saudi’s with Academic and over are among the most unemployed section with 47.2%. These figures indeed remain a critical source of concern for the policy-makers [4]. Despite these numbers, the Kingdom was reported as one of the top 10 countries in world spending the most on education [5]. The average Saudi student's performance was found to be below the standard global performance. It has been estimated that over two thirds of students do not conform to the international standards [6]. In discussing the human capital aspects from the Saudi Arabian perspective, we would also like to point out that the country still has heavy dependence on its abundant oil reserves. Nevertheless, the kingdom's survival in the long-term is subject to its capacity to break away from the shackles of oil-reliance and develop a diversified knowledge-based economy. We witness in recent times that the policy-makers are concentrating the movement towards a knowledge-based economy, especially in the Ninth development plan. The key aspects of the Tenth Development Plan also reveal two major thrusts: