Saudi General Authority for Statistics released its Labor Market Bulletin for the fourth quarter of 2017, which provides comprehensive data and indicators on the Saudi labor market. The data of the bulletin are taken from the labor force survey conducted on a quarterly basis, and from the administrative records of some relevant entities, such as Ministry of Labor and Social Development, Ministry of Civil Service, General Organization for Social Insurance, Human Resources Development Fund, and National Information Center.
The results of the third quarter, 2017 showed an increase in the economic participation of Saudis of 15 years and older as it reached 41.9 percent compared to 40.7 percent in the previous quarter with an increase of 1.2 percent.
The results indicated that the economic participation of Saudi females has increased by 19.4 percent compared to 17.8 percent, whereas, participation of Saudi males has increased by 63.4 percent compared to 62.6 percent.
However, the results demonstrated a stability in the unemployment rate of the Saudi population at 12.8 percent, the unemployment rate of all population, Saudis and non-Saudis, reached 6.0 percent with an increase of 0.2 percent compared to the previous quarter.
The unemployment rate of Saudi females declined to 31.0 percent compared to 32.7 percent, while male unemployment rate registered an increase of 7.5 percent compared to 7.4 percent.
Moreover, the results showed an 11.8 percent decline in the numbers of Saudi job seekers during the fourth quarter of 2017, compared to the third quarter of 2017. In contrast, the numbers of Saudi employed persons have increased by 3.3 percent.
General Authority for Statistics' spokesman Taiseer al-Mofarrej explained that when comparing the unemployment rate of total population, Saudis or not, in Saudi Arabia, which registered 6 percent in this quarter, with the unemployment rates of G20, Saudi Arabia is in the average rate, as ten countries including Saudi Arabia have registered rates ranging between 4 percent and 7 percent.
