The number of Saudi job seekers with bachelor's degrees and above reached a total of 570,922 in the third quarter of 2017, accounting for almost half (46.4 percent) of the total number of Saudi job seekers, according to the latest official figures.

The total number of Saudi job seekers from all educational levels reached 1,231,549, according to figures posted by the General Authority for Statisitics on its website. Of these, 564,081 hold bachelor’s degrees, 6,617 hold a higher diploma or master’s degree, and 224 job seekers hold doctorates.

The number of Saudi women seeking jobs reached 1,040,727, according to third quarter employment data for 2017, accounting for 84.5 percent of the total number of unemployed Saudi citizens.

“Unemployment figure among women in Saudi is scary. More than a million women are looking for jobs,” tweeted Hind Al-Zahid, head of the Business Women’s Center at the Eastern Province Chamber of Commerce and Industry (EPCCI).

A decision taken in September last year by King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to lift a longstanding ban on women driving in the kingdom is expected to ease conditions for women looking to enter the job market when it comes into force in June this year.

The unemployment rate among Saudis remained unchanged in the three months the end of September 2017 at 12.8 percent, despite a rise in the number of new job seekers. (Read more here).

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(Reporting by Nada Al Rifai; Editing by Michael Fahy)
(nada.rifai@thomsonreuters.com)

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