Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — The General Authority for Statistics (GaStats) has issued the labor market report for Q1 of 2018 on its official website www.stats.gov.sa. According to the estimates of the manpower quarterly survey being carried out by the Authority, the labor market data from the administrative records in the related authorities (including the Ministry of Labor and Social Development, Ministry of Civil Service, General Organization for Social Insurance (GOSI), Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF) and National Information Center), showed a drop in number of non-Saudi workers.

The results of the Q1 2018 showed that the total number of workers, according to the administrative records in the Kingdom for the first quarter of 2018, has reached 13,333,513 individuals compared to 13,581,141 individuals in Q4 2017. The first quarter of 2018 also witnessed a drop in the number of non-Saudi workers, according to the Kingdom’s administrative records, by 234,191 individuals compared to the Q4 2017. They reached 10,183,104 people compared to 10,417,295 in the previous quarter. Meanwhile, the total number of Saudi workers reached 3,150,409.

The rate of economic participation of the total population (15 years and above), from the estimates of the Q1 2018 manpower survey, has reached 55.5 percent compared to 55.6 percent for Q4 2017. Meanwhile, the percentage of economic participation of the total number of Saudis has reached 41.89 percent compared to 41.86 percent in the previous quarter.

The economic participation of male Saudis (15 years and above) rose to 63.5 percent compared to 63.4 percent during the previous quarter. The economic participation of female Saudis (15 years and above) rose to 19.5 percent compared to 19.4 percent in the previous quarter.

The results indicated that the unemployment rate for the total population (15 years and above) reached 6.1 percent in Q1 2018 compared to 6 percent in Q4 2017. The total unemployment rate for Saudis (15 years and above), according to the Q1 2018 manpower survey estimates, has reached 12.9 percent. On the other hand, this quarter witnessed a drop in the unemployment rate of female Saudis, as it reached 30.9 percent compared to 31 percent in the Q4 2017. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate among male Saudis rose to 7.6 percent compared to 7.5 percent in the previous quarter.

The number of Saudi jobseekers in Q1 2018 totaled 1,072,162, according to the administrative records (Jadarah, Saed and Hafiz programs) compared to 1,086,561 with a drop of 14,399 individuals compared to the previous quarter. The percentage of male Saudi jobseekers reached 16.1 percent while that of female Saudi jobseekers reached 83.9 percent.

The bulletin included a large quantity of detailed data on workers, according to the regulations and bylaws they are subjected to, as well as nationality, gender, age, administrative region, education level, data on jobseekers, average monthly salary, working hours and household helps.