Unemployment rate in Saudi Arabia drops to 12.5%

RIYADH — The unemployment rate among Saudis has dropped to 12.5 percent during the first quarter of 2019 compared to 12.7 percent in the previous quarter, according to the latest figures of the Labor Market Bulletin published on Sunday by the General Authority for Statistics (GaStat).

The unemployment rate among Saudi men reached 6.6 percent while the rate among Saudi women stood at 31.7 percent in the first quarter of the current year. The jobless rate of the total Saudi population, including expatriates, dropped to 5.7 percent compared to 6 percent during the last quarter of 2018.

The results of the survey also showed a high rate of economic participation of Saudis during the first quarter of 2019, reaching 42.3 percent, compared with 42 percent in the previous quarter. The economic participation rate of Saudi women increased to 20.5 percent compared to 20.2 percent in the last quarter of 2018 while the rate among Saudi men jumped to 63.3 percent against 63 percent in the previous quarter.

According to the administrative records data, the number of Saudi male and female employees increased slightly, reaching 3,112,029 compared to 3,111,199 during the 4th quarter of last year. The total Saudi jobseekers, registered in the administrative records, reached 945,323 in the first quarter of 2019. GaStat explained that jobseekers registered in the administrative records are not subject to the international unemployment criteria and approved by the International Labor Organization (ILO). Therefore, not all of them are considered to be unemployed. As a result, not every jobseeker is unemployed. He might be seeking a job, but has a job or is self-employed and is not registered in the government records, the report indicated.

The figures were based on the estimates of the labor force survey conducted by the GaStat on a quarterly basis as well as the employment market data provided by the Ministry of Labor and Social Development, Ministry of Civil Service, General Organization for Social Insurance, Human Resources Development Fund and the National Information Center.