Unemployment rate in Saudi Arabia drops to 4.4%

Saudi Arabia’s overall unemployment rate dropped to 4.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2023, marking a decrease of 0.4 percentage points from the same period in 2022.

When compared with the previous three months, the latest report from the General Authority for Statistics revealed a 0.7 percentage point decline in the Kingdom’s joblessness rate in the fourth quarter of 2023.

GASTAT data showed that non-employment among Saudi nationals stood at 7.7 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, indicating a decrease of 0.3 percentage points compared to the same period in 2022.

However, the participation of locals in the labor force during the last three months of 2023 decreased by 1.2 percentage points year on year, reaching 51.3 percent.

Reducing the number of people without jobs is a crucial objective outlined in Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, with goals set for such rate to decrease to 7 percent by the end of the decade, alongside a projected women’s participation rate in the workforce of 30 percent.

In the fourth quarter, the unemployment rate among Saudi females decreased by 2.6 percentage points to 13.7 percent compared to the previous three months.

For Saudi males, this remained unchanged at 4.6 percent in the fourth quarter, while their labor force participation decreased by 0.2 percentage points to 66.6 percent.

Meanwhile, the employment-topopulation ratio among women increased by 0.6 percentage points to 30.70 percent during the same period.

The GASTAT survey revealed that a significant 94.9 percent of Saudi nationals without jobs are open to working in the Kingdom’s private sector.

Moreover, 80.1 percent of non-employed Saudi females and 91 percent of males indicated that they would accept work for eight hours or more per day.

The report showed that 62.1 percent of non-employed Saudi females and 43.8 percent of males are willing to commute for a maximum of one hour.

The most commonly used active job search method among Saudis was to seek assistance from friends and relatives, with 85.6 percent of aspirants following this practice.

GASTAT reported that 73 percent of Saudi job seekers applied directly to employers, while 59.4 percent made use of the National Employment Platform, also known as Jadarat.