According to General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) Labor Force Survey, the unemployment rate of Saudi Arabia’s working age population, which includes all residents with the age of 15 years and above was 6.6% in the third quarter of 2021, unchanged from the second quarter. The participation rate on the third quarter is 61.20%, slightly higher by 0.4% from 60.8% in the previous quarter[1].

The Labor Participation of Saudi for the third quarter is 49.8%, a little higher of 0.4% from the previous quarter’s rate of 49.4%[2]. Meanwhile, the non-Saudi’s participation rate is 76.9%. In terms of the unemployment rate, Saudi working age population reached 11.3% while the non-Saudi reached 2.4%.

In addition, the private sector accounted for 54.3% of total labor force at the end of the third quarter of 2021, while the percentage of labor force in the public sector reached 27.1%[3]. Other sectors stood 18.6%, this includes self-employed, family workers, non-profit organizations, domestic labor, regional and international organizations, as well as agricultural sector workers.

Compared to the first quarter of the year, we can see a slight positive difference for the labor participation and unemployment rate. This is due to Saudi Arabia’s commitment to achieve the Vision 2030, as it aims to reduce the unemployment rate for Saudi citizens to 9 percent. Moreover, the government greatly supports the vision by promoting Saudization by encouraging demand for Saudi labor through making Saudi workers more attractive and enhancing supply of Saudi labor through on-the-job training programs[4].

References 1 GASTAT (2021). Labor Market Statistics Q3 2021 https://www.stats.gov.sa/sites/default/files/LMS%20Q03%202021E-Final_0.pdf [2] GASTAT (2021). Labor market statistics Q2 2021. https://www.stats.gov.sa/sites/default/files/LM_Q2%202021En.pdf [3] Argaam (2021). Unemployment rate in Saudi Arabia unchanged at 11.3% in Q3 2021: GASTAThttps://www.argaam.com/en/article/articledetail/id/1520866 [4] Harvard Kennedy School (2019). The Labor Market in Saudi Arabia: Background, Areas of Progress, and Insights for the Future https://epod.cid.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/2019-08/EPD_Report_Digital.pdf