Riyadh: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s unemployment rate for Saudis and expatriates dropped by 5.1 percent in the third quarter (Q3) of 2023, compared to 5.8 percent in 2022.
This result is due to a significant increase in Saudi women joining the workforce.
According to the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT), the total unemployment rate among Saudi citizens decreased to 8.6 percent in Q3 of 2023, down from 9.9 percent during the same period in 2022.
The total unemployment rate among expatriates dropped to 1.5 percent in Q3 2023, from 1.6 percent in Q3 2022.
The unemployment rate among women decreased to 13.7 percent in the period, from 16.6 percent in the Q3 of 2022, according to data.
The unemployment rate among Saudi women fell 16.3 percent from 20.5 percent a year earlier, while it increased 4.6 percent for men, up from 4.3 percent a year ago.
Among female expatriates it increased to 6.4 percent, up from 5.7 percent in the same period of 2022.
The report indicated that the labor force participation rate among Saudi females increased by 0.6 percentage points to 35.9 percent in the Q3, with the employment-to-population ratio rising by 0.3 percentage points to 30.1 percent.
The labor market participation rate for Saudi nationals slightly decreased to 51.6 percent in Q3 2023, from 52.5 percent in the same quarter in 2022.
Saudi Arabia is implementing various government programs to diversify its economy from oil, aiming to stimulate business and job creation.
The Vision 2030 agenda aims to decrease Saudi unemployment to seven percent and increase women’s employment participation.
