Reflecting the Saudi economic reforms’ effect on job creation for locals, the Saudi General Authority of Statistics revealed a substantial decline in unemployment rates among Saudi women to 21.1%, while national unemployment reached about 5.8%-- which falls as an average figure on unemployment among G-20 member states.
The Saudi General Authority of Statistics reported a 5.8 percent drop in unemployment in Q3 2017 compared to Q2. Despite the fall, the overall unemployment rate among Saudis remained stable at 12.8 percent as the market absorbed new jobseekers.
In this period, the report says, there were 1.2 million Saudi jobseekers, comprised of 190,822 men and 1,040,727 women, although the unemployment rate among women fell to 21.1 percent compared to 22.9 percent in Q2. The results placed Saudi Arabia 12th among G20 nations in terms of the average fall in the rate of unemployment during this quarter.
Overall, the largest number of jobseekers belonged to the 25-29 age group.
During the same period, a total of 509,180 visas were issued during Q3 of 2017. Of these, the public sector issued 22.3 percent, the private sector 39.9 percent and the remaining 37.8 percent were issued to recruit domestic workers.
The report also revealed that around 54.8 percent of the population is involved in economic activities, of this figure, almost eight in ten are men.
