Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH – The overall unemployment rate has fallen 5.8% in the Kingdom in the third quarter of 2017 compared with the second quarter, according to a report of the General Authority of Statistics.

Saudi Arabia stands 12th among G20 nations in terms of the average fall in the rate of unemployment during the third quarter.

The report indicates that the unemployment rate among Saudis showed signs of stability at 12.8% despite an increase in the number of new jobseekers.

The overall unemployment rate among women also fell to 21.1% in the third quarter compared with the previous quarter when it stood at 22.9%. This shows positive signs of reforms endorsed by the Council of Economic and Development Affairs (CEDA) to empower women and extend support to them to take up jobs.

There were 1,231,549 Saudi jobseekers during the period. These included 190,822 men and 1,040,727 women. The largest number of jobseekers belonged to the age group of 25-29, with a percentage of 31.3. About 45.8% of jobseekers were holders of university degrees.

According to the report, young men and women make up around 36.7% of Saudi population. It showed that around 54.8% of the population is involved in economic activities, of these 78.4% are men and 19.9% women.

A total of 509,180 visas were issued during Q3 of 2017. The government sector issued 22.3% visas and the private sector 39.9%. Some 37.8% visas were issued to recruit domestic workers, the report noted.